Burdens
by bloodmoon13
Summary: Thanks to Desiree Danny and his class are stuck in some creepy place where they have to literally carry their burdens on their backs someone decides to cheat what they find out will surprise them.
1. Wishing

**At last I can post my stories after seven months! It took me seven months to figure it out and I'm supose to be the smart one in my family. Well I hope you people like this, it's told from different views so enjoy!**

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**_Burdens_**

**_Chapter 1_**

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_(Normal POV)_

Amity Park may looked peaceful but it is the most haunted city on the continential U.S. Ghost attacks have become such a daily occurance that evn the most stuborn nonbelievers would believe in less than an hour. Thankfully there are ghost hunters that keep them at bay so the situation doesn't get too out of hand.

The ghost hunting couple Jack and Maddie Fenton weren't hard to miss in their hazmat suits and large guns, though between the two Maddie was much better focused than her husband who can mistake a bird as a ghost. The other human hunter was a young women in a black and red suit that has some pretty impressive technology and a sleek jet sled. Out of all the three she was the best one with a black belt in hand to hand combact and a ruthless obsession to hunt down and destroy all ghosts.

Finally, the was the last one who wasn't human at all but a ghost known as Danny Phantom. Many are torn between his status in society as a menance or a hero. Currently though he was fighting a mechanical looking ghost with green fire for hair.

"Give it up whelp," Skulker said aiming his gun at the ghost boy, " your pelt will soon be hanging on my fire place!"

"Yeah can we hurry this up before I'm late for school," replied a teen around fifteen with white hair, acid greean eyes, and a black and white hazmat that had a P in a D on the chest, sounding really annoyed.

"As you wish," pulling the trigger sending lazers at the young ghost who just dodged the with ease and pulled out a meteal thermos. With a scream the other ghost disapeared in a vortex of blue light sucking him into the small metal prison. Capping it with a triumphant smile Danny's smile soon vanished when he heard an all too familiar sound.

"Ah man I'm late!", quickly he transformed back onto his human form in an alley close by and sprinted torwards Casper High. He got there literally without a moment to spare.

"Well cutting it a little close aren't we Mr. Fenton," said a bald and over wieght teacher known as Mr. Lancer. Ignoring the snickering of his fellow cassmates Danny headed towards his usual seat at the back next to his best friends Tucker Foley, and Sam Manson.

With Mr. Lancer back to them as he wrote down a few things on the board that no one at all cared about the trio bent their heads and started whispering.

"So who was it this time?" asked Sam.

"Skulker," Danny replied in a bored tone.

"Again, man does he ever give up," said Tucker.

"Apparently not considering that this is the third time this week that I've had to capture him," Danny said.

"But it's only Tuesday," said Sam.

"I know," he sighed "Well hopefully there won't be that many ghosts and I can finally get home on time."

"Yeah and if you're late one more time you could break the school's dentention record!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Thanks Tuck, thanks a lot," Danny retorted sarcasm dripping on every word.

"Ah why I'm I not surprised, tell me can any of you three tell me the name of the author who wrote Annabell Lee?" asked the over weight teacher who apperantly had caught the teens who had failed to notice him when he stopped talking.

Neither of them spoke, to the teacher it was clearly obvious that none of them even had the slightess idea what the answer or even what he was talking about for the past ten minutes was about. Mr. Lancer sighed "Does anybody know what the answer is?". He looked around and only saw his students off in their own little world ignoring him. Then he got a brilliant idea of that would be very amusing, well at least to him. Casually he walked to his desk grabbed a volume of William Shakephere and slammed it hard on the desk.

The sound instantly jerked the class awake.

"The answer is Edgar Allen Poe people!" he practicly yelled out. Rubbing his throbbing temples he got back to his lecture. "Like many other poets Poe uses personal views to illustrate his words, it could be about his or another's life either way -". He was cut off by the sound of the bell releasing the students to their next classes_. Why do I even bother_ thought the educator it was clear to him that these kids needed to actually experiance hardship in order for them to show even the slightess emotion in their creative writing assignments.

_Oh well ... _

On his next break Lancer was still pondering on how to get his kids actually emotional about their work he had read in _Teacher's Weekly_ that assignments that gets students to show their best even without them thinking about it was sure to boost grades up.

And keep kids from being pain inthe butts for the teachers. That was what got Mr. Lancer thinking especially when it came to a certian Daniel Fenton. The boy was clearly intelligent that was very clear to the over wieght teacher yet he had an act for trouble and has had so many detentions that he only needed one more before he'd break the school's record that took four years to do yet he was most likely to break it this week and he was still a freshman!

Instead of concentrating in class Danny was always tired and distracted. The teacher sighed picking up his cup of coffee before walking out of the teacher's louge.

"I just wish for the kid's to all experiance something that can help them undestand how to put emmotion into their homework,"

As he headed out the door he didn't hear a erie chuckle that seemed to come out of no where.

_"And so you have wished it and so shall it be,"_

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At last it was the end of the day and after two more ghost attacks, one during lunch and the other during gym, being shoved into his locker by Dash, recieving detention, and getting loaded with two papers due Friday Danny just couldn't wait to go home. Making sure no one was around he phased his hand through his locker pulled out his backpack and went out to awlk home with his friends like always.

"Hey Danny," greeted Sam.

"Hey you ready,"

"Yep,"

"Where's Tucker?" he scanned around for the techno-geek.

"Oh, he left early, apperently he still in trouble from last week's meat incident," she answered back. Danny couldn't help but feel guilty for his friend taking the fall for yet another ghost. The Lunch Lady had gotten out and had trapped Tucker inside the school's fridge, which was off limits to all students. The lunch ladies still couldn't explain how he had ended up there where it was locked at all times. And him not saying anything on who had stolen all the meat was given a week's detention and had a nasty teacher conferance with his parents.

Danny hated how his friends also had to suffer for his mistakes and responsibilities. Still every time they always tell him that they don't mind and that they were all in this together no matter what. Even so Danny still couldn't stop worrying about their well being I mean he was the one with the ghost powers so it was his burden not theirs. All in all he couldn't feel anything but grateful that he had such good friends who would stick to him no matter what.

They walked together aimlessly chatting away about just about anything when Danny's ghost sense went off.

"Ghost time?"

"Yep, I'll call you later Sam," he ran of in the oppisite direction toward an abondon alley where he yelled off his battle cry "I'm Going Ghost!". Two white rings appeared and went up and down from his torso transforming his t-shirt and blue jeans into a blck and white hazmat, his saphire blue eyes into acid, glowing, green and his black hair turned snow white. He took off heading towards the ghost.

By the park terrorizing some poor civilian was a female ghost who looked like a genie. "And so you have wi-," she didn't get to finish for Danny had hit her from behind with an ecto blast gived the scared guy a chance to run away screaming like a little girl. Filled with rage she turned around to face her attacker.

"Foolish whelp you dare to interfere with my spell binding!"

"Yeah actually I do,"

"Well not for long child mark my words soon very soon you'll suffer!"

"Yeah well what are you going to do, huh?"

Desiree grinned evily "Oh I'm not the one who will make you suffer child,"

"What are you talking about!"

"You see you are making yourself suffer right now and as soon as noon tomorrow your pain and anguish will only be the beginning!" with a flick of her hand several plants came to life and went after Danny. Not wanting to waste any time he fired a whole line of ecto blasts that and froze the rest. Turning around to face Desiree only to find her gone.

"Great," he sighed "she got away way to go Fenton." Heading home he couldn't help but think about what she had said that he will cause his own suffering. Shaking it off he headed to where one of the plants had knocked off his back pack. When he picked up he saw that the stupid plant had ripped the slings.

"Well isn't this just perfect," he muttered sarcasticly at no in particular. Making sure he had a solid hold on it he took of turning invisible as he swooped into his room and transformed. Luckily his parents were out shopping and Jazz was over at a friend's so he didn't have to worry about why he had leaves in his hair and a few scratches from the the plant's branches.

Danny headed to the bathroom to clean himself up a bit so no questions would be asked. He'd have to get a new back pack as well good thing he had a spare in his closet.

Up over Amity Desiree was busy setting up her plan smiling the whole way the ghost child would suffer along with his entire class and she didn't have to do anything but grant that fool's wish, with a little twisted word play this was going to be fun to watch.

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**Okay so what you think if you guys like it I'll keep udating also check out my other story Magic's Blood those of you who like Harry Potter might like it. Does anybody here know WingsofMorphius her stories are awsome but when will she update?!**


	2. A New World

**Finally I've gotten time to update this story but a lot of people really seem to like Magic's Blood and don't worry it comes after this and so does Who is he. Just be patient but I'm hoping to update the next installment of one of my stories in a few days.

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**Chapter 2**

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Everyone was already in bed, even Danny. Which was wierd because usually he didn't go to bed until two or one, midnight if he was lucky enough, and it was only eleven! But he didn't care he just fell fast asleep after about five more ghost attacks. Didn't they have something better to do instead of bugging him?

Apperently not for a sertain psychotic genie, who was hovering over the sleeping city paying close attention to those who were in Danny's class. Paulina was busy applying a mud mask for the night, Valerie doing some pull-ups, Dash saying good-night to his teddy bear (every single one-hundred and thirty-seven of them), Kwan busy admiring his muscles, Star was chatting on the phone, the rest were already in bed or getting ready to. Desiree was grinned as she noted each individual. This was definetly going to be fun to watch, and to make things a little more exciting she was going to give the victims, I mean students a bit more _motivation..._

After all they should be rewarded for their troubles. That is _if _they survive her little game,after all nothing comes easy in life and the teacher did say that he wished, she just gave him what he wanted and that's exactly what he was going to get.

Everything seemed to be normal to Lancer after a cup of coffee he was set to go. He parked his car in the teacher's parking lot and headed towards his classroom humming a little tune he had heard on the radio while driving home yesterday. The bald teacher entered the classroom to be met by the faces of this country's future voters and tax payers. To think he had high hopes that at least one of them wouldn't end up like him, at a job that he sometimes just can't stand and only come home to bills that have to be payed by the end of the month. Oh well, maybe next year, hopefully. 

He set his briefcase down on his desk and took out last week's quiz on poets of the mid-eighteen hundreds. "Class I will now pass out your quiz grades, I hope that some of you will take time to actually study next time." One paper after another he passed out, some students looked pleased or ok with their grade while others just couldn't believe how poorly they had done, their parents certianly wouldn't be pleased at all.

"Mr. Lancer," said Dash innocently,"I don't think that I deserve this kind of grade, especially with the big game this Saturday."

Lancer only responded with a mono tone that seem to say 'well that's too bad for you'. "Yes, well Dash that maybe so but sometimes a students deserves exactly what they get no matter the cercumstances or their place on the football team." Lancer ignored the sullen look on the popular jock's face and continued handing out the papers. Until all had been passed out. Danny did pretty good with a B-, Sam with an A (no suprise there), and Tucker ended up with a D+. How was he supose to know that _Die Peoms 3_ doesn't actually teach you about the poetry style nearly a hundred and fifty years ago.

"Class due to the lack in creativity in this class we are going to work on a little project where you'll each have to write about somethig that troubles you in your life. It has to be a page long, it can be anything a song, poem anything you want. But you can not download anything from the internet, I will be checking them for playgerism. If I do find anything like that, he or she will have to hand write a ten page essay on how playgerism is wrong, front and back." The class grimmanced at the thought of havig to hand write ten pages of work on such a dull subject. That certianetly got them dicouraged about using form using "And it's all due by next Friday, that gives you plenty of time so I expect a good job from each and eveyone of you." When Mr. Lancer wanted a paper like this he was sure to get at least seventy percent of it on time.

Now that allof his frustration hs been let out he sighed and went back to facing the board writing down today's lesson down for the class to copy. "Now if you'd all turn to page-" he never got to finish when a sinister laugh came out of nowhere.

_"And so you have wished it and so shall it be,"_

Everyone screamed and tried to bolt towards the door to find the effort futile. Before there butts could even leave their seats glowing pink ropes strapped them into place. Mr. Lancer swung a book around trying to hit the invisible foe with no luck. Instead in half a second he was also tied down tight to his chair.

"_Oliver Twist! _What's going on here?" he cried out despretely trying o free himself from the ghostly bonds that held him down. All of the kids in the room were trying to do the exact same thing, some had given up, others were starting to go into the first stages of panick.

_Crying..._

"Gotta get out of here," Danny muttered silently, he tried to power up a small amount of ecto energy in his hand but as soon as he had it ready to fire, a pianful shock surged through his arm making him grunt in pain. He tried agian with an even more powerful beam this time, the same thing happened only the pian was twice as worse. Danny glanced over to Sam and Tucker, they were also trying to struggle out of their restriants but when they couldn't they stopped and looked at Danny. A silent message passed through them saying that it was no use, they were stuck.

None of their classmates were doing any better, some of them had given up early while others were still at it. One kid was trying to chew through them but instead ended up with his mouth glued shut. A few where panicking or already crying for their mommiesMr. Lancer was tied down just like evryone else. Any possible exit was sealed and blocked off by the same stuff that held the kids down. They didn't know it but several teachers from the outside had heard screaming and rushed to see what it was about. They were now trying to open the door by any means necessary. Each attempt ended miserably.

Desiree was getting bored with watching those pitiful educators try to interfere, so with a flick of her wrists a gas started to seep out of the vents for no reason, all of the humans fell one by one asleep. The vapor flowed through the walls into the classroom, it snaked around like it was alive forcing itself into the lungs of the contricted students. Several, including Sam, Tucker and Danny held their breath to keep from inhailing it in. It was no use, even if they weren't breathing it still managed to enter their lungs and blood stream.

Danny suddenly felt so sleepy, his eye lids grew heavy, he tried to shake it off but more of the stuff came in. His lungs were about to burst and his head pounded from fighting to stay awake. Sam and Tucker's heads already drooped and rolled on their necks. Everyone was asleep or nearly asleep. Inside a small voice kept playing in his head...

_Sleep... Just give into it..._

Danny tried to fight it but it was just so soothing that all he wanted to do was obey. Slowly his will to stay awake ebbed away and he started breathing in the gas. Drifting to sleep Danny caught a glimps of Desiree hovering over him with a cruel smile on her pretty face.

Before _blackness...

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Lancer woke up on a a hard rock ground. His back ached from lying on the rough floor and his entire body was stiff. How long had he'd been out? Was the first thing he asked himself when his vision finally cleared, he could see that all of his kids were all here still out cold. Lancer took a moment to take in his surroundings, they were all in some kind of clearing that had tall trees of a species he'd never seen before. They were huge, with trunks as wide and thick as a building. Series of roots tangled and dug deep into the earth, vines wrapped around them like snakes. He was sertian that a few of the vines had moved on their own.

The sky was barely visible throught the dense roof of the trees. But he could see that it was still daytime. That some how didn't make the knot in his stomach go away though. The very place seem to give his skin chills despite the fact that it was at least eighty-five degrees. One thing he noticed was that his clothes, and the clothes of his young pupils had changed. They were all wearing clothes that looked like the ones you see in martial arts movies. A few had already begun to awaken and stir.

Valerie was among the first to come to conciousness. She scanned around and then looked at her fallen classmates she noticed Danny and began to worry until she saw that he was starting to wake-up. Though she never told anyone, she still had a crush on him but ghost hunting was sure to put him in danger. She didn't want that to happen to him, he was a really sweet guy, and pretty cute too. Sure acted wierd a few times, but still he was just so much fun to be around with, he was layed back and relaxed, and there was always something in his goergous blue eyes that seemed so... _alive_ to her. Valerie stopped thinking about Danny by telling herself that it would never work out with her little '_side job_'.

Getting back to the current problem she saw that some were all ready awake along with Mr. Lancer who was looking around curiously. She stood up and walked over to her english and lightly tapped his shoulder making him yelp in surprise and jump a foot in the air. Seeing that it was only Valerie relief and embarissment flooded him.

"Valerie it's good to see that your awake, how are the others?" he asked politely trying to calm his beating heart.

"Their ok," she shrugged, "What happened Mr. Lancer? Where are we anyway?" she indicated to the area around them.

"I'm not sure to be honest, but I'm hoping to find out soon," he responded.

The teacher walked away to help some of those who were waking up at last. Good thing that she always had a few small weapons in her pockets, and one of them was a GPA. She reached into her right pocket to find that she had no pocket, infact she wasn't even in her own clothes but an outfit that she used to where at her karate classes. _What the hell!, _she thought, _Where are my clothes, why I'm I wearing this?!_

Everyone was awake now Paulina was complianing about how her hair was a mess, Star was whinning that she was hungry, Dash, Kwan and most people there were looking around confused or scared. The only ones who didn't seemed panicked or scared were Sam, Tucker, and Danny who seemed to be talking quietly among themselves. They were standing a bit farther from the group with their voices only whispers so Valerie couldn;t hear what they were saying. Their faces were tensed as if they were looking around for any signs of danger.

"Where are we?" was the main question that eveyone was asking. Cause this sertianly wasn't Amity Park.

"People, people calm down!" shouted Mr. Lancer grabbing the attention of the class, "I know that things look bad but I'm sure we can find some help, in the mean time it's best if we all stick together until we have some answers."

"Actually you won't have to," said an amused voice. Every head turned to see an old man with a bald head and a long white baided beard. He was wearing a colorful robe and wa olding a staff that was carved with tiny illustrations and symbols. "Hello there, sorry to startle you but I was told to come and ascourt you back."

The strange man turned around and started walking in the direction he had supposedly came from, looking back he said cheerfully, "Well are you coming or not?" Lancer opened his mouth to speak but the old man beat him to it, "I promise that any questions you have will be answered as soon as we return,"

Not knowing what to do Lancer followed him with his english class trialing behind him. The man lead them through the maze of roots, it was amazing how big they were. After a few minutes of walking the man halted.

"Here we are, the council will see you now, they've been expecting you. It really has been a long time since we've had anyone come..." he sighed lost in his memories, shaking his head he continued, "Well, then lets not stand around here all day we have to get you all ready!" he said quite happily.

"Wait ready for what?" asked Dash.

"Come now, come now we mustn't be late!" he pushed them all in the direction of a large hut where smoke came out of the building's chimney. There was one one door painted red and there were no windows that could be seen. As everyone stepped inside they were met by an intense heat. The only light came from the fire place, where a flame danced around sending hot embers up the narrow chimney. Even in the dim light the students could see that there were five people sitting on crimson cushins, embroded with a fine gold thread. They were all dressed in magnificent robes and were very old indeed. Silver hair caught the dull light of the fire and emphisized on their many wrinkles.

"Ahh so you have finally arrived, good," spoke the one in the far right, she sat still like a statue with her face not showing any emmotion at all. None of them did, for the fact, all thee man and two women were watching the teens and teacher with intense steel eyes. Taking notes in their heads of each one.

"I'm sorry, but why are we here?" Lancer asked in a dignified voice, even stuck in a strange place he had to show some authority sothey'd know not to try anything funny.

"Quite simple really," this time it was a man sitting inthe middle that responded, "You, or rather, your pupils are here to tast their skills-"

"That is, if they have any..." the man to his right cut in.

"So," he continued on like he was never inturrupted at all, "You will each hace to carry your burdens up the mountain,"

"And how exactly do we go home? Because I have a pedicure at five and I am not going to miss it for some stupi wieght contest," Paulina complianed smartly studying her nials completely missing the look in one of the elder's eyes when he said this.

"That is the only way you can go home," the farthest to the left said.

"What do you mean that's the only way we can go home!" Valerie cried out.

"At least one of you has to make it to the top, when that happens you will all be teleported back to your world," he said unconcerned.

"What do mean_ our world?" _asked Sam.

"You see child, this is a spiritual place where it can not be located by technology or any device for that matter. The power that protects this valley if far too great,"

"And what's in it for us?" asked Dash greedily. Kwan not to far behind, they hadn't missed the objests in the room was made out of pure gold and precious gems.

"Yeah I mean the first one to the top should get something right?"

"Yes, I guess your right," replied the first woman who had spoken, "The first one to reach the top first will be granted one wish, any thing that you want will happen exactly how _you _want it,"

This got many people excited, "So what are we waiting for, lets go!" said a kid in the back. Excited whispers followed among random people.

"You cannot leave yet," everyone stooped talking and listened, "In order to make it to the top you must each carry a pack on your backs all the way to the top,"

"You mean we have to actually sweat?!" cried Star grossed out, "_Eeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!!!!!"_

"We will meet with you individually to decide on what you will carry, please wait outside,"

All shuffled out quietly thinking about what the old lady had ment by _'what each would carry'._

"There you are so how did it go?" asked the strange little man as he appeared, "Come now you must all eat before you all set out!"

Many in the group were hungry and followed behind eagerly. The smell of food made their mouths water. "Help yourselves to all you can eat, you'll need it for tomarrow," grabbing what ever was to their likings, and when they all had gotten what they wanted, the students got into their regular groups, Populars, greeks, losers, math club and so on. Danny and his friends had chosen a space somewhere far away from eveyone else so they could talk in private.

"One wish, just the way we want it! Can you imagine!" said Tucker.

"Yeah it soungs awsome, you know how many animals I can save with it!" said Sam, as always, looking out for the rights of animals and the environment.

"And who says your gonna win?" mocked Tucker.

"Oh please, like you could win Tuck, you barely passed your presidential fitness test last semester,"

Tucker only glared at her. They started arguing back and forth, Danny watched amused eating his meal, despite it being all you can eat, he wasn't so sure it was a good idea to eat 'till your ready to burst. Plus, with all the ghost huntings he often would skip meals, so it was probably why he had chosen only some ramen noodles and a small bowl of rice. Tucker's plate was piled high with meats of all kinds, and Sam had a salad.

A ten yards away Dash, Paulina, Kwan, Star, and the once agian popular Valerie were also eating their meals discussing the issue of the wish.

"Can you imagine if you had any wish you want!" said Star.

"Yeah, just imagine,"answered Paulina dreamily, thinking about the one thing or _person _that she wanted. _Danny Phantom_ was the one thing she wanted, I mean he was strong, brave, powerful, and not to mention _hot!!!!_ Valerie on the other hand was thinking o ways she could use the wish to capture the ghost who had ruined her life. She didn't care that most of the town saw him as a hero now, she could see through his act. He was no hero, he was just trying to gain their trust so he could easily wipe them out. Well it wasn't going to work on her and she planned to get rid of him once and for all.

"You know what I'll wish for when I win-" Dash was cut off by Kwan.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who said that _your _going to win,"

"Yeah," glared Valerie.

"We have just as much as a chance to win as much as you do Dash," Paulina hissed.

"Come on, when it comes to sports I beat everyone here!" he gloated. The rest just glared at him eyes narrowed dangerously. It became clear that only one of them could win and they all planned to be the one to win. Tension was already building there could only be one winner, the only question was...

_Who?_

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"So do we start calling them in?" asked the woman to the farthest left. Her name was Udina and her fellow comrades were former powerful warriors, but even time affected. Since there had been peace for centuries they didn't fear that the evil that was sealed away thousands years ago would emerge again.

"Yes, we should," said warrior in the middle, his name was Fadur.

"Well lets get started then," sighed the second woman known as Granah, "Who should be first I wonder?"

"Hmm lets start with the air heads," replied the man next to her.

"Very well Kau, send one of them in Jasque,"

The man who had retrieved the teens bowed deeply, "Yes madam, but wich one?"

"Send in the one with the pretty face,"

"As you wish," with one last bow he was gone.

"This one should be fun to mess with," said Kau with a menacing smile.

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**Well here's chapter two at last, I'm done and it's spring break at last!!!!! You all better apreciate this, I had to endure an annoying little sister for nearly a week striaght damanding for the computer. Next up are the interviews, that should be intresting, I wonder what everyone will have to carry? Oh well only time (_and me)_****will know. Adios my dear amigos!**


	3. Judgement

**All right chapter three here the elders get to interview each student starting with a certain Paulina Sanchez. What are there strengths and weaknesses, and what is it that they have to carry on their backs. All I can say is that _somebody_ isn't going to be very happy by what they hear, and _somebody_ will get insulted. This going to be so much fun! Well at least for me and who ever reads this. But that's the reason for fan fics it for the suffering of make believe cartoons for our pleasure. Just as long as the character is a real it's ok! No regrets here!**

**Chapter 3**

"Hello you wanted to see me," Paulina said sweetly, putting on the smile that had won her three state beauty pageants. Her plan was simple; get the old geezers to like her from the start that way she wouldn't have to work so hard. She had always been good of getting on people's good sides that she was sure could prove beneficial in the future for her. Who cares how many people she had to step on to get what she wanted, to her, she came first and everyone else came second.

Being called first, she was sure that whatever they wanted to talk about would be to tell her what a delicate being she was and that she wouldn't have to work so hard. That right there is pretty much the story of her life. Everyone seeing this precious flower that had to be taken care of by everyone.

The elders, however, were smarter than that and could not be fooled easily by her, "Wipe that smile off your face child," said Kau replied coldly, "Your little act won't work here, so as a warning drop it,"

Paulina was shocked had someone just answered to her in that manner. Never before had someone said anything like that to her before. "We can see many things child," Fadur said, "All is revealed in your eyes,"

"You're a very deceitful person, willing to endanger others to save yourself, when you want something you go through any means necessary to gain it." Granah added.

Paulina's face was now red in embarrassment and anger. How dare them! Do they know who she was? "I'm sorry I think you're mistaken," she said sweetly again grinding her teeth to keep down all of her anger.

"We don't make mistakes," replied Kau, "As I said before drop your act before you make a fool of yourself,"

That did it; no one talked to Paulina Sanchez like that! "How. Dare. You! Do you know who I am?" she screeched. Her pretty face was full of anger and her hands were clenched into fists.

"Apparently not, why don't you tell us?" mocked Udina unaware of the girl' anger boiling to its limit inside her.

Paulina stood up proudly like she always did to show that they couldn't bring her down. "I'm Paulina Sanchez, captain of the Casper High cheerleaders, most popular girl, homecoming queen, and I am class president. I'm also part of the Young Proper Society Association, winner of the Miss Teen Amity Pageant, and I am in the first class in society." She was sure that the elders in front of her would be impressed now; anyone would be impressed by her social status in the community and at school.

"That might be a huge accomplishment in the eyes of mortals," Udina said, "But to us you're a spoil girl who has never had to work hard except for popularity, not caring who you had to hurt to stay on top. You don't have that many burdens only to make sure that you are first in everything…"

"There for, what you must carry must be as followed," Fadur pulled out a velvet bag from the sleeve of his robe. It looked like an old, battered, empty bag but what astounded Paulina was that the man pulled out a small weight that glowed by some light inside of it. "The want to be loved by all and to remain that way," he put it into a bag then threw it to her. She tried to catch it but it weighed like twenty pounds!

"I have to carry this up a mountain!" she cried out pitifully. "I'll break a nail!"

"Deal with it! Those are your burdens now go! There are others we must see before the sunsets," Kau dismissed her ignoring the way she was muttering curses in Spanish and about how her father would hear about this. She walked out the hut dragging the pack behind her. At the sight of everyone else she made herself look cool and that everything went as smoothly as possible. Caring the pack gracefully as if she carried heavy packs for a living, walking back to the A-list kids like a model on a runway.

When they saw her coming they pelted her with questions.

"How'd it go?"

"What did they ask you?"

"Was it hard?"

"What happened?"

"What's with the tacky bag?" Star asked observing the bag over her shoulder. Paulina smiled coolly and responded, "Oh this, well this is what everyone has to carry apparently, it's really not that heavy," she lied modestly. There was no way she would let anyone know how hard it was for her. She had to keep up her reputation, and if anyone saw her having to actually work hard, people might think that they would have an actual chance at winning the wish. And she couldn't let that happen, I mean what if they wished they were more popular than her!

"By the way one of you has to go next," she said innocently. If they saw how easy it was for her to carry her bag then people would think that she was invincible, especially when they see how heavy theirs will be.

"Sorry Paulina,"

"For what?"

"Well you see when you were gone that little guy gave us a piece of paper with a number on it," Valerie held up a square paper with a number three and pointed at their host, "He said that they'll go in order Kelsey Bandon just left after you came back,"

"Then what number are you guys then?" Paulina asked. She wanted to know how long she'd have to wait for the others to get their bags from the elders. It was absolutely essential that she got her beauty sleep, even if she didn't have her mud mask, silk pajamas, and hot, sugar free, low cal, Belgium cappuccino.

Seeing the man who had escorted them here she called to him, "Yoo-hoo, sir!" she ran up to him, "Where do we sleep?" she asked nicely.

"Right here of course," he replied with a smile.

"But what about the beds?" she started to get worried.

He just laughed, "Why there are no beds here,"

"**_WHAT!!!"_** she screeched drawing the attention of everyone around.

"Everything you need was given to you in the bag you got from the elders,"

"You mean there's a bed in there?" she asked confused.

"No, no silly," he chuckled, "there's a sleeping bag inside of it along with other things you'll need on your journey," he walked away leaving a very unhappy girl in his wake. Paulina was never an outdoors kind of girl and that certainly wasn't going to change now or even in the future. She hurried back to the group to find Valerie was gone.

"Hey where's Valerie?" she asked.

"She went to go see those creepy old folks back there," Kwan answered pointing at the hut. Paulina sat next to Dash and went rummaging through her bag, all she found was a sleeping bag, some food, a canteen for water, a pocket knife that had a bunch of attachments to it that she had no idea what they were for, matches, soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a mini first aide kit. What use was this stuff to her anyway! Where was the make up kit, the portable electronics, in her opinion it was all a bunch of junk, and there was no way she was going to take a bath somewhere in the woods.

Valerie was making her way back thinking about her pack, it was slightly bigger than Paulina's. The elders had given her weights that represented her job at the Nasty Burger, her job as a ghost hunter, school, and maintaining her hard earned popularity no that she had it back. The overall it weighed a good fifty to seventy pounds, this definitely wouldn't be as easy as she thought.

Dash went a few minutes later, then Kwan after him; their pack had the same stuff as Valerie and Paulina. They had the same weights, to live up to their parents expectations and to maintain their status as star football players. Star went after two more people had gone before her. She came back lugging her pack whinnying about how heavy it was. It had the want to be popular and to fight her way on top, keep her grades up, and to be in the spotlight.

Everyone went in and came out carrying a bag behind them; some had no problem at all while others were all ready getting tired by the weight of it, even though it probably weighed the same as Paulina's. Tucker was one of the first five to go, he came back with a decent sized bag, and it was the same amount he usually carried in his techno-geek bag. Sam went and came back with a similar bag to Tucker. Danny was the last person to go. His friends were worried about him, with the ghost hunting and other things that had happened to him they were afraid that it might be too heavy for him to carry.

"Good luck man," Tucker said giving Danny an encouraging smile.

"Yeah, and Danny if you ever need help you know you can always count on us," Sam offered.

"Don't worry you guys I'll be fine, really," Danny said not wanting his friends to have to be burdened by him. He knew that they would do anything for him, but that didn't mean that they weren't in danger. If anything was to happen to the ones he cared about the most, Danny would never be able to forgive himself for it.

He walked past his sleeping classmates and Mr. Lancer. Danny was surprised to see the over weight teacher didn't have a pack like everyone else. He shrugged it off and continued toward the hut. On entering it he saw the elders sitting patiently.

"Don't keep the door open your letting in a draft," Udina said to him. Danny obeyed and shut the door behind him and took a few steps forward. "I see that you're very different from the others,"

Danny's heart pounded, _what did they know? How did they know? _Thoughts raced through his head praying over and over that they wouldn't be able to find anything out.

"Relax child, what is said here is only for our knowledge, no one else," Fadur reassured him. Still, Danny put up some shields in his mind just in case. He didn't know whether or not he could trust these people and he wasn't about to take any risks.

"You seem like someone who's used to being in danger," Granah observed. This boy was clearly different from the rest; he wasn't cocky and didn't expect any special treatment like the preppy Hispanic girl or that idiot blonde jock. His eyes studied the room in a quick manner that she had only seen in those trained in battle.

Danny quickly made up an excuse, "Yeah well, you see my parents are ghost hunters so I've learned a bit about how to defend myself a bit," he shrugged. Trying to keep calm.

"There is no need to hide yourself," Fadur said, "Our eyes see all, we see your strengths, weaknesses, secrets and memories, putting up those shields in your mind is a waste of time and energy for you."

The teen didn't know what to do but he was very, very nervous at this point. How did they sense the shields in his mind? If they could see those, what else could they be able to see? This was bad, very bad. He supposed that it was useless to try to trick or lie to them in any way.

Kau saw the way Danny was shifting from one foot to another nervously, the boy seemed to be very uncomfortable in the position he was currently in. "Tell me, does anyone other than your sister and friends know about your secret?" Kau asked. He wanted to see if the boy was clever enough to figure out that he couldn't lie about anything to them.

Danny remained silent for a minute before letting out a sigh, "No, they are the only one who know, and as of now so do you," he added. The fifteen year old had been tricked too many times and he wasn't about to be again, there was no way he'd let anyone harm them. He had sworn to that a long, long time ago.

"You are quite the remarkable young man, to have such dangerous secrets within you," Fadur said, pulling out the velvet sack once again for the last time today, "You carry many burdens that sometimes harm you yet you do not show it to anyone, not even to those that you trust the most,"

Udina took the bag from Fadur and handed it to Kau who pulled out weights that shown brightly in the dimly lit room. "Secrets that can be the difference between life and death for many, the safety of others, to keep it a secret from another's eyes, school, family, friends, all contribute to it, but also," he said, "Memories that weigh down on your heart," By the time he was done the pack was bulging with light. Danny went to pick it up, straining to get it off the ground, but by the look on his face it was impossible to tell.

"Um is it possible to carry it in a different way?" Danny asked eyeing the pack on his back, if someone saw how big it was they might get suspicious; sure his class was full of idiots. But if someone noticed something and said anything about it, it wouldn't be long until everyone would be curious, eventually he'd have to explain it to the, and he just couldn't let that happen.

"Oh and how do you plan on carrying them then?" Fadur asked raising his eyebrows.

"Is it possible to tie them under my clothes?" Danny said meekly rubbing the back of his neck. Granah smiled at him, the boy was very clever and he saw the danger of going out there with a bag that size when all of the others were much smaller.

"Very well then but remember you are not to remove the weights unless in a state of emergency, and you will not be able to use your powers the whole time," she reminded him then added in a stern voice, "Is that understood?"

Danny bowed his head in respect. Udina dismissed him then, "Very well, you may go now, tomorrow your journey awaits you," As soon as he had left the last warrior who had remained silent through the whole ordeal at last spoke.

"I am sure I am not the only one who sensed it," he said arms folded under his robe and his face stern and strong. He had seen many things in his life, some good, others bad, but there was something in the boy who was just in front of him, that he had never seen before.

"Yes, that untapped power within him," Kau said, "What can it be Jihagh?" They had all sensed it inside of Danny. "That much power in one being is dangerous, it nearly destroyed the valley once, and the mortal world as well,"

"True Kau," Fadur replied, "But at the time it was at the command of a demon. The child doesn't seem to even know what lies within him, and even if he did I doubt he would have used it at all,"

"You're right Fadur, the boy seems afraid of the power he knows he possesses now," Granah said.

"Taking them away right now will allow for his natural powers to emerge," Udina said.

"That maybe so but power is nothing without control. As one of the legendary warriors, we all should know that by now," Jihagh sighed. They had the ability of immortality, to die and then be reborn again, other wise known as the phoenix's gift. They've protected the secrets of the Vida Valley for thousands of years, maintaining the balance of the immortal spirits and the mortals of the earth. There used to be seven of them, but now there were only five left.

The tragic day it happened nearly everything and everyone was destroyed, great cities of magic and spirituality crumbled such as Atlantis, the mages of Stone Hedge died out. The followers of the one who had betrayed them were locked away by allies of theirs who have long moved on. Pariah Dark was one of them along with Vortex, and Undergrowth, all reeking havoc everywhere they went, killing thousands for the mere sport of it. The days of war still haunted their memories at losing two friends on the same day. The past was behind them now all that they could worry about now was the present and future.

"There's no point in arguing and bringing up what has all ready happened, it doesn't matter," Kau said. The miniature globe that floated between the claws of a stone lion shone bright for a second before dimming out again. "It's midnight," announced Udina, "its best if we all rest now." The fire reduced itself to embers and all the elders closed their eyes in a meditation like slumber.

All were sleeping more or less soundly; some were still awake chatting with their friends about the day that awaited them in a mere six or seven hours. Paulina and Star had finally gone to sleep in what they liked to call them _those sacks of disease_ much to the happiness of Valerie who was ready to _politely _ask them to shut-up. Dash and Kwan didn't care about girl problems to them all that mattered was the wish and what they were going to do with it when they had won it.

"So what are you gonna do if you win the wish?" Dash asked leaning against his pack so he could be in a comfortable position. His blue eyes starring greedily up at the sky at the thought of how powerful he could become if he won, he'd have hot girls swarming all over him. He could have anything he wanted money, girls, his own football team, girls, fame, girls, did he mention girls?

Kwan was thinking about how he could wish for cars that would make anyone jealous. High tech gadgets that could make anyone he wanted with a click of a button, or maybe a time traveling machine. Better yet super powers so he could be a hero just like his idol Danny Phantom. Phantom is awesome, he's a hero with all sorts of super powers, and all the girls wanted to date him. He drifted off to sleep dreaming of being a super hero and flying along side the Danny Phantom.

Mr. Lancer wasn't so lucky in getting much sleep like the rest of his students, his mind kept drifting away to the conversation he had had with the man named Jasque. What he had said deeply disturbed and had knocked out what ever hair he had left on his head off. The bush on his back were standing up straight, he rolled over in his sleeping bag trying to get in to a comfortable position. It was no use, one position had his back against rocks, another made his foot fall asleep or was to itchy, in the end he ended up strolling past the slumbering teens checking to make sure they were safe and sound.

It was a full moon tonight so there was no need for a flashlight of torch, he could see just fine. His eyes had gotten accustomed to the darkness while he was thinking so he could tell which student was which, the students he had no problems with were asleep all in a group, the more popular students were also in their own small group as well. Though his students were each in their own cliques they all kept close within an invisible circle. That is, except for three certain students who remained at least five or ten yards away from everyone else.

Sam Manson was a bright girl, true her wardrobe was to be questioned by most of the community she had proved long ago that she didn't give a damn about what others thought about her. The English teacher just somehow knew that she might get into politics to stand up for the rights of others, mostly animals and the environment most likely. Lancer was certain that she would make it out of the nightmare that awaited his students.

Tucker Foley was a techno geek, with a pack full of technology and a PDA in his hand at all times, he wasn't hard to notice, especially with his ability to talk the dead into dying again. If it had anything to do with computers he knew about it and cold hack into it before you could count to three he was in. The school had to make him always turn off his PDA when he went to class to ensure he didn't hack into the school's hard drive to override all systems again.

Last but not least, was Danny Fenton. Compared to his two best friends Danny looked like the type of person who could blend into any crowd unnoticed. He was always being bullied by Dash and the football team ever since he stepped foot into Casper High. Danny had a slim figure and he always wore baggy clothes that made him seem even smaller than he was. The blue eyed boy however did have quite the rap sheet, but you wouldn't believe from one look at him. Together the three of them formed some kind of unbreakable bond between them that was rare these days.

As he checked on them Lancer couldn't help but admire the deep loyalty that they had between them. It was something special that seemed impenetrable no matter what, it was true friendship. As strange as it was, Lancer had never had students quite like them. He had been an educator for fifteen years at Casper High now. Walking past them he was sure that he had seen a green glow coming from their direction but decided that to ignore it, it was probably just a trick of the light.

When he had walked away from them Danny opened his eyes and held an orb of pale green light in his hand, Sam and Tucker were also awake. "It's getting weaker," Danny said starring at the orb in his hand with a worried expression.

"I know," Sam said staring at it, "I think that the closer it gets to sun up more of your power disappears,"

Tucker rolled over onto his stomach so he could talk comfortably to his friends, "You don't think that it'll be a problem, do you?" he asked nervously, "I mean what if we run into some giant man eating bugs or snakes or what about…"

"Tucker!" Sam cut him off harshly, "Shut-up!"

"Tucker relax, after what, a year of ghost hunting don't tell me you haven't learned anything on how to fight?" Danny teased. Tucker shot him a dirty look.

"Yeah well not all of us have had to fight as much as you ya know," he countered.

"Right, Tucker," Sam joined in not wanting to be left out, "That's a real good excuse and the fact that you mostly volunteered to hold the thermos didn't have anything to do about it." Danny was silently shaking with laughter.

"So, I do that on purpose to let you two lovebirds be alone," Tucker knew he had gotten both his revenge and a one way ticket to pain by the look of his friends' blushing faces. Before he knew what had happened his body had suck into the ground with only his head sticking out. "Oh come on this is so not fair you guys!"

"Hey you asked for it," Danny replied sadistically.

"Night Danny," Sam said cheerfully.

"Night Sam," Danny said with just as much cheerfulness.

"Good night Tucker," they said in union.

"Ok now you guys are just being cruel, guys, guys!" his pleas fell onto deaf ears for both Sam and Danny were now asleep. Tucker sighed and tried to go to sleep in what seemed to be the most uncomfortable position ever, and he was pretty sure that a worm was crawling around in his pants. Out of sheer exhaustion he closed his eyes despite having dirt in some very uncomfortable places.

Night passed way too quickly for them all, Sam was the worst one off because she never was a morning person, Tucker's body was stiff and it took a while to get him out of his dirt cocoon, Danny didn't like mornings either but being a light sleeper he shook off his weariness easily. They rolled up their sleeping bags putting them neatly into their packs and headed to where everyone else was already having breakfast. As they went to go get something to eat they heard a sneering voice from behind.

"Well, well, well look who's here," the trio turned around to come face to face with a grinning Dash and the rest of the A-list kids, "if it isn't Dawn, Orlando, and Fentonio."

"And if it isn't Stupid, Stupider and the clones," Sam retorted back, Tucker and Danny covered their mouths to keep from laughing. "Hey nice to see that you guys actually made it through one night without crying for your mommies,"

"And it's so nice to see that you didn't go and run off at night to howl at the moon Gothika," Paulina stepped in front of Dash so that she met Sam eye to eye. Everyone around could sense a cat fight brewing between the two.

"Funny I was just going to say the same thing to you seeing that you pretty much turn into a beast at night princess. Not that you don't act like one during the day,"

Paulina's nostrils flared, "Why you little…"

"Moby Dick, Manson, Sanchez!" cried Mr. Lancer as he made his way over to the two teenage girls, "That is enough, unless you two want to get a week of detention when we get back home?" he added. Both girls backed off back to their friends. "Alright people get back to eating you cannot waste any time," Sam stormed off and grabbed an apple and some nuts from the same place everyone had eaten dinner last night.

"Jeeze Sam calm down," Tucker said eyeing the way she was chewing the apple savagely as if it was the one who had insulted her.

"Yeah Sam don't let Paulina get under your skin, your better than that," Danny offered. That calmed her a bit, knowing Danny was over his crush on that evil, two-faced, demon did her anger good. He had finally seen the real Paulina behind that mask of perfection she wore.

"Sorry, your right," she sighed, "It's just that she gets me so mad!" Sam crushed the nut she was holding in an iron grip. The two boys beside her shared a look signaling that they better leave Sam alone for a few minutes so she could cool off. That way neither of them would have to face an angry Sam. Danny ate his toast while Tucker gobbled up his eggs, bacon, hash browns and well more eggs and bacon.

"You do realize you're going to make yourself sick eating all that Tucker," Sam commented after taking her frustration on the hard shelled fruits, they were now so smashed up they could have been passed for peanut butter.

"Hey I need the strength, and besides who knows when I'll eat again," he countered, his words were slightly slurred from having so much food in his mouth so it sounded more like this. "_Aye I heen ve stregs, han behinds ho nose whan idle heat afain," _

"_Riiiiight_," she retorted sarcastically, "_That's the reason. _Also Tucker you do realize that you won't have that much meat to eat out there," Sam added innocently bursting out laughing when Tucker spit out his food spraying Danny with pieces of egg and bacon.

"Noooo!!!" choked Tucker as Danny wiped away the food from his face glaring at Sam who was sitting there innocently enough. "Please tell me you're joking!"

"Alright I was kidding," Tucker breathed out in relief, Sam waited until his mouth was full again "You have do exercise to get meat." Sam laughed even harder when Tucker once again sprayed Danny with chewed up food, much to his dismay and annoyance. Instead of panicking again he completely fell apart and wept on Danny's shoulder as Sam only laughed even harder until tears were rolling down her face.

"Tucker get off me!" Danny shoved Tucker away so he could clean up again, "And Sam stop making him spit food on me," he glared at her. She got her laughter under control.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she held up her hands to show she meant no harm, "But it was just too funny! HAHAHAHA!!!!"

"Oh yeah well," Danny scooped up a bit of dirt nearby, "So's this!" he flung the dirt bomb hitting her dead center in forehead. "HA! Pay back!" he gloated. Danny yelped as Sam threw a large nutshell at him. He ducked so that it hit Tucker instead. Both Sam and Danny cracked up at their friend's expense.

"Oh yeah," Tucker grabbed whatever was left of his food and threw it at both of them; they shielded themselves with their arms. Soon it was an all out war of throwing whatever was nearby at each other. It ended in about five minutes with all three of them laughing on the ground that had bits of food scattered all around them. Dash, Paulina and the other popular kids were watching them.

"Pff what losers," Dash snorted.

"I'll say jut look at the way they're dressed," Paulina retorted. Valerie was about to say that they were all dressed the same but decided against it. Paulina had taken the liberty of using her knife to cut the white shirt and pants and make something that looked very fashionable. She cut off most of the pant leggings so that she was wearing very small shorts. The top she had minimized the top so that it looked like one of the cheerleading tops and some of the extra clothe Paulina had cut off was tied around like bandages on one of her leg and arm so it looked like white jewelry, overall Valerie had to say that Paulina looked like a hot Matrix chick only dressed in white instead of black.

Before Valerie had a chance to point out to Paulina that she had just insulted the A-list kids as well Jasque spoke loud and clear over the class, "Hello, I hope you've all enjoyed you're breakfasts," he said pleasantly, "It is nearly time to begin, but before you go one your way there are a few things I should mention," His tone changed from pleasant to serious as he inspected each and every face.

"What you all are about to do is extremely dangerous, you must be prepared to face anything. You were all given packs that hold your burdens in life it is up to each of you carry your own up the mountain. When you can start you will have to first find the mountain for you all start in different random places all the same length away from the mountain you are to go up. If anything is to happen to you and you wish to give up there is a necklace inside your bags that will teleport you back here when it is activated. Be warned, some who have tried to gain the prize on top have sometimes died or killed one another for their own greed." Everyone shifted around uncomfortably; they didn't know that there would be any risks to their lives.

"With that let it begin!" Jasque slammed the top of his staff onto the ground and in a puff of smoke everyone disappeared leaving a very worried teacher and mage worried.

"Will they be alright?" Lancer asked.

"I hope so," Jasque said sadly, "I hope so,"

**All right chapter three how did you all like it next update will be of _Who is he_ then _Fight or Die._ Thanks to everyone who has sent in a review and if you like this story check out my other ones on my account. Well better get started if I want to finish by either tomorrow or Thursday. Sayonara!**


	4. Dash

**I'm back with a whole new chapter. Sorry that it took so long but it's like this… You see my sister is always on the computer so she can IM her friends when she could just use the phone. I mean word doesn't use any internet. How stupid is that? I seriously I have to get a laptop. Maybe I should ask for one on Christmas or my birthday or something…

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**Chapter 4**

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_(Dashes POV)_

Some weird light suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was like a really bright camera flash and it was over just as quick. I blinked a few times to regain my vision, 'cause all that I could see were a bunch of dots all over the place. The moment I could see again I noticed that I was in a completely new place.

And by new I mean creepier than before. I mean this place was like those really scary places where the heroes are stranded and the have to find a way out. Only this time I'm actually in it!

Hey, maybe I'll get to star in my own movie…

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**

I turned to where that scream came from. Man it was loud. I think I felt one of my ears start to bleed. I didn't even think it was possible for someone to even scream loud. I saw Paulina in her new and improved, and by improved I mean hot, outfit hugging a tree with Star right beside her screaming as loud as her. Valerie wasn't screaming at least.

_Thank God!_

But she did look a little scared to say the least, but she also looked like she was getting ready to kill it. I mean she looked really scary like some kind of killer or something. I rushed towards them and as soon as I got out of the bush I was behind of I could see why they were so scared. I mean, I was scared myself from just looking at the thing.

It was a scorpion that was as long as a car. It was a black with red eyes that seemed to just daring one of us to come any closer. Its stinger, tail or what ever you call it was already starting to drip poison. Now I don't know a lot about bugs but I do know that, that thing was dangerous.

I was heard that this guy who was stung by a scorpion died in just one day and that this other guy ended up in the hospital for six months in the hospital and his whole body was paralyzed for years. Now he paints water colors with his toes (Because that's the only part he can move). Anyway getting back to the giant bug…

It turned its attention to Paulina and Star. There was nothing I could do since I was too scarred to even move. Suddenly, a rock came soaring hitting it dead center on the head with a decent _thump_. Glaring it turned to where the rock had came from. There stood Valerie holding another rock ready to be thrown in her hand.

"HEY!" she yelled tauntingly, "Come and get me you stupid flea!"

Okay, now… it was mad….

Valerie turned to run when the bug thing started to come after her. As soon as it was distracted I starred at the other girls still huddling close to the tree scarred out of their wits. I waved my arms up and down like some sort of cop to try and get their attention. Once they noticed me signaling to get run to where I was in the bush they ran like the devil himself was after them.

They got behind me like I was their big strong knight in shining armor that was there to protect them. It actually was pretty awesome to have two hot girls so close to me. I mean sure I had plenty of girls after me before, and what kind of girl wouldn't be after me, after all I am Dash Baxter…

Valerie climbed up a tree as fast as she could to get the scorpion to follow her, "Come on you stupid bug! What's the matter afraid of Heights!?" Almost as if it understood her it started to climb after her and fast.

I searched the ground for something, anything! To help Valerie out, I mean we were barely friends but no one would let someone die without helping them first. I saw a few rocks and sticks. Grabbing them I started pelting that giant bug with them, some smaller rocks came after mine. A quick glace to my side and I could see both girls throwing as much as they could to help Valerie out.

After a while the thing started to crawl out of the way to another tree and up the into the leaves. Hah! We sure showed it whose boss

. Valerie sighed in relief before climbing back down. Star immediately ran over to her side.

"Valerie, oh my gawd! Are you all right?"

_Why do girls have to be all mushy?_

"Yeah I'm fine… no worries Star," Valerie said. Star calmed down a bit and started to brush off the dirt on her clothes that she had gotten from hugging that tree. "So… what was that thing anyway?"

Paulina put her hands on her totally awesome hips and said in the same tone she used when she was starting to get bored with something and wanted to do something else. "Like, who cares? All I know is that thing was disgusting, I mean I almost broke a nail!"

Star just ignored her too concern with Valerie, "I think it was… I don't know… it looked like a giant scorpion,"

"Well I hope that that's the _only_ scorpion out here," Valerie stated, and I had to agree with her. There is no way that I am going to be camping out in the jungle with giant man eating bugs. Hell no! "This place gives me the creeps. Did you guys see anybody else around here?"

We all shook our heads. "No, all I saw was a really bright light and the next thing I knew I was in a bush," I said.

"Hey I saw that light too, I hope it didn't wreck my eyes…" Paulina added.

"Me too," Star agreed, "It was kind of like a camera flash."

We were too busy talking about that strange light and giant bug to notice Valerie. "Uh guys…"

"…"

"Guys!"

"…"

"GUYS!!!"

"What?" we chorused together and turned to look at where she was.

"You might want to take a look at this…" she was standing on top of a boulder looking down at something that we couldn't see. So we walked over and climbed up. I had to stop a few times to move some stupid leaves out of my way, and I nearly slipped on a loose rock. Luckily I grabbed a vine in time to keep myself from falling on top of Star and Paulina who were right behind me.

When I finally got to the top I stood next to Valerie, "Ok what so special that we…" the words I was about to say died in my throat when I stared down at what Valerie was starring at, and I couldn't believe it, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't have it right in front of my own eyes. Star and Paulina came up right next to us.

"Valerie this had better be good, 'cause if this is a joke I'm going to…" Paulina stopped talking and gaped at what she saw. For the first time, she couldn't think of a single thing to say at the moment. And I couldn't blame her…

There, only ten feet below us, was this message written in blood, but this blood was different. Right beside it was the same bug that had attacked us with its guts all spilled out and it's entire inside exposed. It was like some kind of mad scientist dissection… The blood was blue and still wet. So my guess, based on every detective horror movie I've ever seen, was that the bug was only recently filled. Maybe in the ten minutes…

It was Valerie who got her ability to move back first. Slowly she started to climb down, jumping the last three feet. Walking over to the now dead bug, she looked like she wanted to throw up. I know Paulina sure looked a bit sick right now. Valerie kept going, making sure that she stayed clear of the blood and the body and inspected the message.

"Well," she said at last, "It looks like this guy has only been dead for twenty, maybe twenty five minutes at the most." She bent down and actually touched it! Valerie looked at it for a minute before wiping it off on the ground. She walked back over to us with a grim look on her face.

I know the look of fear, I see it all the time on the faces of the nerds I wail on every time I'm about to pound on them. The look of knowing that something very bad is about to come their way very soon. That was the same look that I saw in Valerie's eyes. This had to be serious, because Valerie was a tough girl to scar…

"That's it!" we turned to see Paulina who was really angry, "I am getting out of here, I've only been in this stupid jungle less than an hour and already I'm sweating and nearly broken a nail and now this!" she pointed to the bloody message with her finger, "I am out of here!" She stomped down and huffed away.

All three of us stared at her as she sat with her back to us. I thought I saw her tremble a bit… Maybe it was just my imagination. Star glanced over at Valerie, "I'll go see if she's okay."

I stood there while Valerie climbed back up to stand next to me, she starred at me, "Come on Dash we should make sure she's okay at least." She jumped down and headed to where Star and Paullina were talking.

We got near enough to hear what was going on. Star was coaxing and hugging Paulina. When they finally stood up and adjusted their back packs like they would have done at school. I had to hand it to them they got over stuff pretty quickly.

"So now what?" Paulina asked, "I don't know about you three, but there is no way I'm sticking around here to get eaten by one of those… what ever it was."

We all agreed on that. "We should probably find shelter and water," Valerie suggested.

"Good idea, but lets find somewhere away from here," I said. There was nothing in the world to get me to stay the night where we currently were right now, nothing. I mean, some maniac is probably out there waiting to pick us off one by one, it could be watching us at this very moment…

We started to walk in the opposite direction of the massacred bug, hopefully, getting as much distance as possible. If that kind of things lurked around in the broad daylight, there is no way I was going to be stupid enough to stand around waiting to find out what comes out at night.

Everywhere we went there were green things everywhere. It there wasn't a giant plant there was a big boulder right in the middle of our way. Either we had to climb over it or walk around it. We stopped about five times to rest. This was our sixth time and we've only been walking for about two hours.

"Okay that's it I can't go on much longer," Paulina announced stopping.

Valerie was getting really annoyed by then. I could sense a cat fight brewing in the air. Man, where was a mud pit when you need one, I so wished I could have a camera right about now…

"My feet are killing me and this humid is seriously messing up my hair!" whined Star. She took off her shoe to rub her feet. They looked fine to me…

"Star, Paulina! We have to keep going, we have to get as far as we can before it gets dark." Valerie pointed out, "Unless you want to end up bug food…" she added stiffly.

"But why can't we just rest for a little while? I mean so far we haven't run into anything dangerous, so we can relax now." Paullina said.

"Yeah but-"

"Come on Val," Star cut her off, "Let's take a break and eat something I'm starving." Come to think of eat I was pretty hungry too.

"Yeah let's rest here for today," I agreed.

"Fine," Valerie sighed defeated, "But ten minutes that's it, then we got to start looking for shelter the sky is starting to look a bit dark."

Sighing in relief me, Star, and Paulina started to dig into our bags looking for the food that was in there. Reaching inside I pulled out what I wanted and we all started to chow down. The only one who wasn't eating that much was Valerie.

"Hey why aren't you eating Valerie, aren't you hungry?" Star asked while she bit into some nuts and raisins.

Valerie glanced up from the apple she was eating. "Actually I'm saving my food for later," she said in a matter-of-fact way.

"Why?" Paulina sniffed.

"Because, in case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of the jungle and I don't know about you I plan to make what I have last."

"So why don't you just go to the store then,"

"Hello! There are no stores here, we either have to hunt or gather food, for your information Paulina,"

We all stopped eating and looked down at our food. Aw man… I hadn't thought about that. Valerie was right, we couldn't just go and buy stuff, mean we were stuck in the jungle! And that weird old man had said that we would only be given the stuff in the backpack and the clothes on our backs and that's it. Suddenly the weight of things came crashing into me.

I packed up what ever food I had left and lifted my backpack up. Hey… why did it feel heavier than before?

I stood up grunting in the effort I took. Paullina, Star and Valerie all looked like they were having trouble as well. After just five minutes, I was sweating like crazy, it felt as if my pack back weighed thirty pounds. A few minutes later Paulina and Star demanded that we stopped and make camp right here and now.

Valerie was reluctant at first but finally had to agree since it was obvious that we were all tired already. Star spotted a huge tree that looked like a good place to spend the night. As soon as we were inside I took my back pack off and rubbed me shoulders. They felt as if they were on fire. No one had the energy to move much.

"Hey did anyone notice that their pack back became heavy?" Star asked taking a long sip of water from her canteen. I raised my hand and said.

"I did… at first it wasn't that big of a deal then all of the sudden when I last picked it up it felt like there was a boulder on my back."

"Yeah, same here." Paulina placed her chin on her knees, holding the close to her body, "I wonder why it happened all of the sudden…"

We sat there in silence before broke it, "Hey wait a minute…" she stood up and started to pace for a while and it was driving me crazy!

What, what is it Star?" Valerie was getting impatient. "Spit it out girl!"

"Well, you guys remember when that funny little guy was yammering on this morning?"

"Yeah,"

"Didn't he say something about having to carry our burdens or something?"

"Yeah and those elder guys then put weights into our back packs," Valerie said, as if something finally clicked, "Wait a minute!" She started to take everything out of her bag scattering it all over the floor. I had no idea what she was doing then she held out an iron block.

"Hey I have one just like that!" I said fishing into my own bag before finding it and holding it up for the girls to see.

"Me too!" Paulina held hers up for us to see.

"Same here," Star held up another iron block that looked the same as the ones we all had in our hands. Yet for something so small it weighed a lot… "Why are these things so heavy?"

"They did say that these would act as our burdens," Valerie explained to us, since I can' remember anything that those old geezers told me. "See each block or weight acts or represents our burdens and they also said that we had to carry them up the mountain if we wanted to win."

"We have to carry these in our bags up a mountain!" gasped Paulina. Star looked as if someone had slapped her in the face. "This has got to be a joke!"

"I don't think this is a joke Paulina," I said to her. I knew how to tell a joke from the real thing, especially since living proof was right in my hand. Then I got a brilliant idea, "Hey why don't we just get rid of these things!" I stood up and threw the block a far as I could. "See problem sol- oof" something hard hit me in the head. I growled and turned to see what had hit me.

I looked all around but couldn't see anything!

"Uh… Dash,"

"What!"

"Look," Star pointed down at the ground.

I looked down. Hey, didn't I throw that weight out? Picking it up again I threw it even father tan before. "There we go, now we can-OW!" I rubbed the back of my head. That is gonna leave a mark that's for sure. I looked down and there it was again… Picking it up, I took a closer look at it, but it just looked like a regular block of weight.

"Okay, this is getting really weird," Paulina said, "So we can't get rid of these things… Then what are we supposed to do?"

Valerie glared at her with a 'are you for real' look on her face. I didn't know what was going on so I had no idea why Valerie was starting to get so ticked off. "Do I have to explain everything to you guys?" I nodded my head. "Fine," she sighed, "Look, those elders said that we had to carry theses things up the mountain right. So that probably means that we can't get rid of them either."

"So… we're pretty much stuck with them," I concluded.

"Pretty much, yeah,"

"Oh this is just great!" Star replied annoyed, "Why can't we just quit then," she sat on a branch with her arms crossed in front of her.

"Fine go on ahead and quit," Valerie retorted back. Star got up and started heading out back into the jungle, or forest or whatever this place was! "But you know… They said that the first one to reach the top with their burdens gets their wish come true, _exactly the way they want it._" Star stopped suddenly. "If you want to leave then I guess it'll just be less competition for us then…"

"Wait a minute!" Star marched up to Valerie and looked her straight in the eye, "There is no way I'm going to quit so HA! I'm sticking through this until the end and I'm going to win."

Well now that was settled… Any wish! I had completely forgotten about that, boy was I stupid. But then again I did have that giant bug, and the fact that I was stuck in this place with three pretty girls kind of pushed the thought out of my head for a while.

Man anything you want exactly the way you want… That would be so cool!

We all took out our sleeping bags and went to sleep. I stayed up for a bit of thinking. I could have anything in the world, power, money, footballs, girls, cars, fame and fortune. Wait, they said only one would win now that I thought about it…

_Hmmmm….. _

I know exactly what I'm going to do. First as soon as we get to that stupid mountain and we're near the top I'll ditch the girls and race off to the top to claim that wish. I mean, I can use them and then leave them. It sounds pretty fair, we'll all get onto the mountain then it's every man for himself.

Even though I had all that figured out I thought about the bug that attacked us today and remembered that message…

_You're next… _

_

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_

**There you have it chapter four is done now to get to work on my other stories I am so behind. Sorry if I haven't been updating like I've used to but my dad reduced my time on the computer to two! Well, it could be worse right? Next chapter will have a new member join the group. For now though, so that no one gets confused, Danny, Sam, and Tucker won't come until later chapters, but soon I promise. Bye now! **


	5. Paulina

**If you ask me, it's about time I updated this one huh? Fear no more for bloodmoon is upon us and it promises to bring much anticipated answers and will leave with more questions than before... All I have to do is make sure not to call my sisters losers and I can have all the time I need!... This may be harder than I thought... Damn it!**

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**Chapter 5**

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_(Paulina's POV)_

...Where am I? UGH!!!

What is that smell?

I got up and... Oh just great! The only clothes that those old fossils let me have and they're dirty already! I can't believe that I actually slept on the ground. That is so gross; there are probably all sorts of bugs and snakes crawling around.

I can't believe that people like Manson actually do this sort of stuff for fun.

Why don't they just start living in the woods if they like it so much?

"Well... look at who decided to finally wake-up..." someone said from behind me.

"It's about time too." I got up and glared at that smirk on Valerie's face, "You _know... Maybe _if you didn't snore so loud you probably would have heard everyone else get up."

"I don't snore!" I scoffed off and that was true, _Paulina Sanchez does not snore!,_ I thought furiosly in my mind.

"Uh-huh, sure you don't."

I was about to give that _stupida_ a healthy dosing of payback for what she said but couldn't.

At that moment Dash came back looking like when he gets tackled too many times. His hair was a mess with leaves, twigs, and dirt in it, his clothes were dirty and had a rip in one leg just above the knee.

Not to mention he smelled _really bad._

Star walked up to him and said, "Whoa what happened to you?" she sniffed the air and took a step back holding her nose, "What's that smell?"

Dash slumped slightly, "I had to go to the bathroom and-"

_Okay I didn't want to know the rest!_

_"Eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww!!!!" _

"That is so gross Dash!" Star yelled.

"It's not what you think!" He defended, "I was coming back here when I got lost and-"

"How did you get lost exactly? Unless you were stupid enough to wander far away from the rest of us..." Valerie interrupted him.

_"Aaand _I saw another one of those big bugs," I gasped at that because that meant that there were more of those things around than just the one from yesterday, "So I had to go around it since it was sleeping, but I tripped and I wasn't sure if that thing heard so I just... stayed there for a while until I was sure that nothing was going to eat me."

I nodded my head in understandment, considering how stupid Dash could be at times that was a smart thing to do, but did he have to come back looking like _that...?_

I stood up and tied to get as much of the dirt off of me and out of my hair. Hopefully there wouldn't be anything in it. I really wanted a shower. My skin had to be washed at least twice a day in mineral water with a teaspoon of raspberry bath soap to give it that flawless complexion. I could already feel the dirt getting into my pores!

Hey! Maybe there is something in this pack that those old fossils gave me that might be useful.

I started to empty it out and found some food, a canteen of water, a first aid kit, and... Those block things that looked a lot like the ones that Dash tried to get rid of yesterday.

That was really creepy... that thing just came back like it had a mind of its own, but that's not possible it was just a stupid block.

_That weighs a ton!_

No wonder my shoulders were starting to hurt yesterday. The blocks I had must have weighed twenty or thirty pounds combined. As if that pack wasn't hard enough to carry already.

_'Hmmm'_

Just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean it won't work for me. I just have to take a different approach... I got to thinking on what to do while Valerie was starting to pace around which was starting to bug me a bit. Star was trying to help Dash make himself a bit more presentable to us to say the least.

I don't how but it hit me! Instead of just throwing it away (why risk getting a big bump on my head for nothing) like Dash did, why not just _leave it behind...?_

That way if it works then I will get rid of those things and if it doesn't then I don't have to worry about getting a goose egg on my forehead.

_It's perfect..._

I was busy thinking of how brilliant my plan was that I hadn't noticed that everyone else was getting something to eat until I felt my stomach growl a bit.

Digging into my back pack I came up with some nuts and an apple. It wasn't exactly what I normally had for breakfast, but it'll have to do. I sighed at the sight of what I had to eat but at least it wasn't high in calories or carbs.

There was no way I was going finish this thing looking fat!

I bit down on the apple and looked at the stuff that I had taken out of my pack and started to replace them when I was done. Making sure that everyone else was busy with something of there own. I stashed those bricks behind some rocks and covered them with some leaves so that they looked natural. That way nobody would know what I just did.

It may sound like cheating but I like to think of it as a small detail that has been deleted to ensure success in a quicker and easier way. Papa always said to take what you can when you can with no regrets. That's the only way you'll ever get anywhere in life.

Does anybody think that I would have been the most popular and prettiest girl in school if I had _played 'little Miss Sugar and everything nice'? _

_N_o, I was _all spice_.

With that done, and with everyone all done eating I guess it was time to go.

_Perfect..._ It was time to see if my plan will work. Which I doubt won't.

"We should get going now, it's not safe to stay in one place for more than a couple of nights. Especially if there are things like what we've seen before out there. There's no telling what might eat us or kill us, so it's best to keep moving." Who made her the leader of this group anyway?

I spoke what was on my mind to get some answers from that loser, "Who died and made you the leader of the group anyway?"

Valerie turned to face me, "Look I'm not trying to take over as leader ok," she said in an agitated tone, "I just want to get to the mountain in one piece as quickly as possible." she paused for a moment to come down before she looked at me again but with a very cruel smirk on her face that sent chills down my spine.

"Besides if leave you behind then that just means that there will be less bait for when there's _real _danger."

I starred at her with my mouth hanging open, Star, and Dash looked at Valerie's retreating form in awe. I bet you anything that we were all thinking the exact same thing.

'_Real danger...'_

_----------------------------_

I was hot, sweating, smelly, tired, dirty, and to top it off those stupid bricks that I had let over three hours ago in that tree cave thing were once again in my back pack.

As soon as I started walking away more than ten feet from where I had put them, they just started to move towards me like there was some sort of rope that pulled them to me. I tried again, this time tying them with a vine to the branch of a tree.

It didn't work.

It was those things were yo-yo's, no matter how many times I tied them to some thing they just slipped out of the rope and come back to me like some sort of pathetic dog. There was just no way to get rid of that thing!

I wasn't paying attention to where I was going because it all looked the same to me. Trees, trees, rocks, dirt, more trees, and the occasional bird flying here and there. So far we've been lucky that nothing has tried to attack, kill, or eat us. I'm glad too. I do not want to deal with another one of those giant bugs trying to eat me.

Once was enough to last for a life time...

My foot got caught between two rocks making me trip. Good thing that I was a cheerleader, I was able to catch myself before I fell onto the ground. I already had more dirt on my clothes than I ever had in my entire life and I am so not in the mood to have more.

Star, like any good side-sick, rushed over to my side, "You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, _still... I could use this_, getting on a face full of pain, "My foot just hurts a bit."

"Maybe we ought to stop," Dash offered.

_Yes! _I thought triumphantly. That trick works every time. Play on an injured face and everyone feels sorry for me and insist on doing all the work for me. I don't have to do a single thing.

Maybe I ought to be an actress...

We all looked at Valerie, who didn't look one bit convinced, but she saw that both Star and Dash were getting pretty tired and her own face was covered in sweat. I could even see that she was breathing hard. "Fine," she finally said, we all sighed in relief at having the chance to rest for a few minutes. "But just for a few minutes then we start moving again."

We didn't pay much attention since we all just fell over right where we were. Dash fell asleep in just ten seconds and Star was rubbing her feet. I took out my canteen of water and poured some of it over my head. Even though we were in the shade it was still really hot and humid. My hair was a wreck and the little cleanliness it got would be better than nothing.

"Paulina," I looked up letting the cold drops of water drip down my neck.

"Yes?"

"You know the wish thing?" she said quietly.

"What about it?"

"Well... what would you wish for?" That surprised me for a second before I smiled.

"Isn't it obvious Star," she nodded understandingly, of course she already knew what I would wish for. I'd wish to meet the ghost-boy or better yet have the ghost-boy be my boyfriend! That would be great...

Why wait any longer when I could just have him right there and then, what was the point in waiting if I had the ultimate power in my very hands?

"Oh, right,"

Star didn't say anything else, but there was definitely something wrong with her considering she hasn't been whining for the past hour, but I just thought that it was because she was tired. "Hey, you ok Star?" I don't know what possessed me to say that but I did.

She looked at me a bit surprised as well, since it wasn't like me to say those sorts of things at all. "It's just... what would happen if one of us ended up getting killed, you know?" I wish she had never said that because suddenly I had this huge lump in my throat that I just couldn't swallow for any reason.

"I-I don't know," was all that I could say. We didn't say anything else. I just starred at the ground thinking about that, _what 'if' one of us **'did'** die? _I asked myself over and over again. I shook my head and banished that thought away. There was no way that on of us would die, absolutely no way.

I was so glad when Valerie said that it was time to go, it broke that uncomfortable silence that had come between us. I got up and went over to wake Dash up. I kicked him softly on the side with my shoe to wake him up so we could go _(and so he'd stop snoring so loud)._

"Dash wake-up, we have to go now!" I said. He just rolled over and grunted so I kicked him a bit harder this time.

"Not now mommy," he gurgled, "I'm tired!" Can you believe it! Here we were in the most stupid place in the world and he still thought we were home! Last time I checked, home had a hot bath, meal, and the mall, not giant man-eating bugs and, and... What else there was here.

I finally kicked him hard enough that he yelped in pain and looked around with a dumb look on his face. "Huh? W-Where am I?"

_Idiot._

I rolled my eyes at his attention span but it was Valerie who answered him, "We're in the middle of a jungle with no way to call for help _since someone _decided that we didn't _need _the flares," I just ignored her and shot her a glare. It wasn't my fault okay! They looked useless, how was I supposed to know that they were for calling for help. That's why we had cell-phones!

Unfortunately, all of our electronics were taken away or were just disappeared for some reason. I can't believe that we couldn't have our cell-phones! What's the point of that? Do they have any idea on how many important phone calls I've probably already missed by now? And my parents are probably wondering where I am right now too.

My parents...

They reminded me of home where I had my nice, warm, clean room with a soft canopy bed, my closet, my shoes, my clothes, my jewelry, my purses, and my accessories, and my _mama y papa _coming to say good night...

These thoughts just made me want to be home even more and also what Star had said earlier. I just wanted to go home but then... then I wouldn't get my wish come true of having the ghost- boy and that was something that I wanted more than my bed and a bath. Nothing was ever going to get in my way of meeting my one true love and having him be mine.

We were once again hiking through dirt again. My back pack wasn't getting any easier to carry and by the amount of sweat that everyone else had on their faces I saw that their packs were giving them just as much trouble as mine was. Usually I'd just hire someone to carry my things for me or have a boy do it with a snap of my fingers.

I seriously doubt that even Dash would be willing to carry my things right now. If only I can find someone who'd be willing to do it that isn't too tired and doesn't seem to have too much trouble carrying their own...

I thought over and over and finally drew to a halt on that chain of thought. I mean chances of running into someone else were pretty slim. We've gone nearly two whole days without seeing anyone else. And it's not like somebody will just magically fall out of the bushes within the next five seconds...

We heard a scratch and then some leaves start to ruffle and there wasn't any wind. I got ready to run away as fast as possible to avoid any encounter with some sort of monster that enjoyed the taste of human flesh. Something fell out of the bushes, but it wasn't a monster it was...

**"Quan?!" **we all said together.

"Hehe, hey guys," he said, we all rushed to his side and started to ask him questions.

"How did you find us?"

"Did you see anyone else?"

"Is there anyone else with you?"

"Are you ok?"

"What happened?"

Once he was sitting down he started to talk, he looked pretty tired and rundown a bit but not that much worse than the rest of us that's for sure. "I was, at first, with Fenton, Manson, and Foley at first but I thought I'd be better off by myself than stuck with those three losers, and I first I was, until I got attacked by these giant leeches or slug things that just seemed to drop from the sky, " he explained going on about his time alone and what he's seen so far."Then I heard noises and I thought that it was someone else... or another mutant monster so I decided to check it out first before I let myself be seen, and the rest you guys already know."

When he was finally done he was out of breath and the sun was already pretty high up. I don't know anything about keeping time, other than a watch but it was probably the afternoon right now. This could only mean one thing...

"Alright," Valerie declared, "We can still get in a few miles if we keep going before dark. Quan you come with us,"

_"No worries there..." _he muttered to himself under his breath but I could here him since I was the one who was the closest to him.

"Me and Dash can help him out when he needs it, by the way Quan how was Fenton when you saw him?" even though she said this in a cool tone I could tell that she was still crushing on that loser. I smirked at her to say that I knew what she really wanted to ask, she just ignored me but I had the home run advantage on her.

"I don't know, alright I guess," he shrugged, "But then again that was almost two days ago who knows what kind of trouble him and his two dorky friends have gotten into." Valerie's face remained completely blank the whole time but I've learned to tell the difference and I knew for a fact that Valerie was probably pretty worried right now.

Though I couldn't blame Quan for guessing that since he was probably right. I mean, Danny was cute but he was so weak, he barely passed that stupid fitness test and not to mention he is kind of on the scrawny side too. I actually feel a bit sorry for him. He and those two freaks are probably already decided to quit.

Valerie cleared her throat and started to walk again, not bothering to look back at us she said, "Let's go, the faster we finish this thing the better." I was about to protest but Star had the nerve to shoot me a look that made me bite back my words. Probably because she was friends with Valerie and didn't want to have her to be even more upset than she already was right now.

Maybe it was also because everyone knew what happened when you tick Valerie off...

I remember what she did to that one loser who wouldn't leave her alone. I heard that he had to go to therapy because what she did to him was so bad he was a quivering mess. Last time I saw him he would be looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was behind him. He was almost as jumpy as Fenton.

Without a single protest, we got up and started walking again with Valerie and Dash in the back to help Quan. It wasn't long until he could walk by himself though without their help. Star and I were up front.

But that didn't make me feel any better…

Even though I didn't show it, I was making sure to look around me so that nothing came up by my side by surprise. This place had some kind of chill around it and maybe it was the trick of the light but a fog seemed to be coming in and the trees seemed to be reaching out to me like claws.

"Uhg! What is it with all these bugs?!" Star said slapping at something on her neck.

She had a point though, "I know, what is this, Bug Central?!" I said swatting a few insects off my arm and legs. I'm starting to regret cutting off the sleeves and leggings, but if I had to go into the jungle then I might as well do it looking good. "What is it now?"

Valerie had stopped and fallen behind. She had some kind of funny look on her face like she was trying to figure something out. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?" Quan said.

"Listen…"

I listened, that's when I heard it, the sound of water. "Water," I whispered.

We all got excited. At last a bath! I hurried to that sound through some bushes. I heard the others calling me to wait up but I didn't stop, I kept going, pushing some leaves and branches out of my way. Walking around a tree I saw where that sound was coming from.

There was this romantic looking waterfall that emptied into this small lake and it was surrounded by trees. It looked like a fairy tale come true! The perfect place to go on a date. The sun was even starting to set with colors of red, orange, yellow, and violet.

The only thing that surprised me was when I heard my name being called, "Paulina?"

It was Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley!

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**There we go Sam, Tucker, and Danny, along with Quan, are now in the story and there will be more of them in the next chapter. Thank you to all the people who've reviewed my stories and a special thanks to Ali Phantom, again, for being my beta reader. I'm just not the type of person who likes to go back and reread stuff. Laziness is just something that... um... I'll get back to you guys on that. By the way the top story for tomorrow is that there is no more school and I got to skip today! How awesome is that!**


	6. Kwan

**You know for some reason everytime I save some part of any new things I had added to this chapter te computer deletes it as if it had never happened and to top it all off my sisters are starting to really get on my last nerves of my last nerve either they need to learn to back off when I'm typing or I'm going to hurt the poor fool who comes up to me one more time with some stupid question that I don't give a damn about. **_(Takes deep breaths) _**Now that I'm done with my ranting let's continue now shall we?**

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_(Kwan's POV) _

You have no idea how happy I was when I found Paulina, Star, Valerie, and Dash. Seriously, I thought that I wouldn't run into anyone else after I had left Fenton and his friends behind like what… two days ago I think.

Honestly, I had thought I'd be better off without them. I mean… have you've seen Fenton and Foley in gym! They're pretty weak and are really bad at football so they have to be weak. Manson is tough but she's just a girl.

I don't know how I even ended up with them in the first place. I thought that if we stick close we wanted to be with then it would work out okay, not like when the teachers randomly put us into groups at school.

But no, instead of being with my friends and people who I actually want to be with I end up I end up with those three freaks…

_(Flash Back)_

_My head was really hurting and everything was fuzzy for a moment and for a second there I thought that I was dreaming when I heard voices._

"_So we have-" the fist voice sounded like a girls but I still was semiconscious so I could it recognize it. _

_Another voice interrupted the first, this one was male. "Hey he's up."_

"_We better make sure he's alright, I think he might have hit his head." A third voice said. _

_My head did hurt a bit; at least things were staring to clear up a bit. A blurry image came into focus and I saw that it was Fenton. "Kwan, Kwan! Are you alright?" _

_I groaned as my vision cleared and I sat up, "…Fenton?" _

"_You should wait a moment before talking; you hit your head pretty hard a few minutes ago. You should be okay but wait until you can think more clearly." That didn't sound like a bad idea and if I didn't feel like my head was about to explode I would have answered back telling him to shut it. _

_Everything soon came into focus and I could see nothing but trees all around us. Manson and Foley were off a few feet away whispering to each other with their heads bent down but it didn't take a genius to see that they were worried or afraid of something. I couldn't hear what they were saying but it must be something serious. _

_I can't remember a time when I've ever seen Manson afraid. She may be a Goth geek but I know that she doesn't get scared, __**she's the reason people get scared!**__ I remember when we were laughing in the cafeteria about her and her friends and Paulina had said that Manson probably had dad bodies under her bed and in her closet._

_That's something that's not hard to believe at all…_

_Foley on the other hand… He made a chicken look like a fearless warrior! I remember this one time where me and Dash had dresses up as monsters during a field trip and totally freaked him out that he ran away screaming like a baby. Even if it was in the fourth grade he's still a coward. _

…_And he's always carrying around that stupid PDA of his. _

_Fenton was acting… I don't know, like he knew what he was doing, like he's seen this stuff before. But he's been acting pretty weird this past year ad he isn't as easy to scare anymore as when he was in junior high. _

_As soon as my head felt better I sat up again and looked around a bit more closely. There wasn't anybody else accept for the Freak Brigade. "Where am I?" was the first thing that came out of my mouth and was pretty much all that I could think of. _

"_I don't know…" Fenton said. He stood up and looked around, "But it seems we're the only ones here. There might be others around but I have a feeling that they're not close by any where around where we are."_

_I nodded; I guess that made some sense. But living in Amity has taught me that almost nothing that's supposed to make sense doesn't and the most insane reasons do. _

_I also got up along with Manson and Foley who had finished talking and were gathering their things. There were a few things on the ground like a first aid kit which Manson quickly shoved into her back pack, some weird weights that those old folks had given me when I went to see them, some small pieces of rope with messy ends, and a knife. _

_It was weird that Manson was trying to stuff them into her pack back in a rush but then again those three were always acting and doing weird stuff. Since it seemed she had everything under control I didn't care that much. _

"_Danny we ought to get moving, you know… to cover some ground before night falls." She said. _

"_Good idea," he looked up at the sky for some reason. I looked to see what he was staring at but all I saw was the sky. "Listen, I'm going to…um… look for some…uh…"_

"_Water!" Manson exclaimed quickly, "We need to find a source of water, you do that Danny and we'll stay here. Right Tucker?" _

"…_Uh, yeah, we'll wait for you here dude."_

_There was something wrong for sure, "Hey wouldn't it be best if we all went looking for water?" I pointed out. _

"_No! I mean…" Manson cleared her throat before continuing, "It wouldn't be safe, it better if Danny went by himself on this one Kwan." I was about to protest when Foley stepped in. _

"_That's right, Danny can make sure that there aren't any monsters around and if there is then he can scream to tell us which way __**not**__ to go." _

_He had a point, why risk my neck when Fenton was the perfect candidate to use as bait in case of some monster trying to eat us. "Okay good plan," I said. _

_I know that it may sound harsh but there was no way that anything bad was going to happen. Right…?_

_Fenton disappeared into the trees leaving me with a techno-geek and a spooky chick in black. They stood apart from me and that was just fine. Just because we were in the middle of nowhere didn't mean we could forget where we stood on the social ladder. I was in the A-list and they were the lowest of the low. No one spoke a word the whole time. _

_I was already bored so I decide to look through my own pack and found pretty much the same things that Manson had shoved into her pack. Along with those same weights as Manson had. I don't know why they weighed so much and they were pretty much useless so I better get rid of them. _

_I was about to throw one away into the bushes as far away as possible but Manson spoke up and stopped me. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." She said in a monotone. _

"_And why not?"_

_I didn't like that smirk on her face and she had a 'I know something but I'm not going to tell you because I want to see you get hurt first' look on her face that sent chills down my spine._

_Two sides of my brain were yelling at each other. One telling me not to listen to her and the other to head her warning. The second one won, mostly because I was afraid of that look she had given me. _

_I turned away from her so that she wouldn't see that I had admitted defeat. The last thing I needed was for a geek to be smug around me with at least one person as a witness to it. _

_Instead I changed the topic before any of them had the chance to make me feel stupid any further. "When's Fenton coming back? He's been gone for ages." _

"_Quan, it's hasn't been that long." She rolled her eyes._

"_Yeah but still, how hard is it to look for water?" I said crossly. I hated when people acted smarter than me. _

"_For your information, even though we're in a jungle of some type, the nearest source of water could be miles away and even then what's to say that water is even safe to drink. There are all sorts of things that live in the water that could kill you and not in a nice way either." She explained dryly. _

_Okay what was with her and making you wish you could just hide under your bed for a long time. I was probably going to be afraid of even the local swimming pool now thanks to her. Why did she have to make you be afraid of everything the way she describes things. _

_It made me reconsidering calling Foley a coward. Considering how he was always hanging out with her I have to admit that he had __**some **__guts for always being around her. I had only spent a few minutes with her already and it was something that I definitely didn't want to do in the future again. _

_Again we didn't say anything after that. Foley started to play around with a twig, Manson was leaning against a tree looking at where Fenton had gone to look for water. I was just minding my own business and drawing pictures in the dirt. _

_I was almost done with one of a clown with a flamethrower when Fenton came back. Manson and Foley ran up to him and started to whisper to him. Like I said freaks…_

_He didn't seem all that bad. He was still in one piece and he wasn't hurt or anything. I decided to go up to him at that moment. I was getting tired of all their whispering and it bugged the hell out of me since I was used to being included in everything that went on. _

"_So find anything?"_

_He pulled apart from his dorky friends to answer me, "Yeah,"_

"_And…"_

"_We need to go that way," He pointed to where the trees seemed to be meaner looking and creepier. "It's best that we start now so we don't-"_

"_No way!" I said. _

"_Huh…Kwan what are you-"_

"_There is no way I'm going there, I mean just look at it and why should I even listen to you Fen-ton any way!" I was almost yelling at that point but there was no way I was going to there. _

"_But Kwan we ha-" _

"_What's with all this 'we' stuff, look you guys go on your way and I'll go on my way." I didn't pay attention as Fenton called after me. I went in the opposite direction as they did…_

I'll admit that I got lost a few times and even regreted leaving Fenton, Manson and Foley. But they would have led me to an early death if I had followed them the way they were going. I could have chosen the creepy path or the less creepy path and I chose the less creepy one.

At least I was able to find some other people and luck must have been on my side because it was people who I knew and hung out with. I could finally breathe again, well, sort of any ways.

Valerie was really pushing us hard to keep moving and we got to a point where my feet started to burn from athlete's foot. I better make sure to wash them when everyone else was asleep that way no one would complain.

Do you know how embarrassing it would be to have smelly feet like mine? They'd never let me live it down.

We heard some water nearby and Paulina just took off. We all took off after her and saw her standing in front of this really cool waterfall but she was looking at something else.

I couldn't believe that it was Fenton, Foley and Manson again. What surprised me even more was they looked a lot better off than we did. They looked fresh an clean, there was a few tears on their clothing but other than that they seemed fine. Like this whole thing was just an average walk in the park.

They were all around a fire and I could smell food cooking that made my mouth water and my stomach growl. All that I've had today was some dried stuff and a few apples.

"Paulina?"

"Star, Dash, Valerie, Kwan!?" Fenton got up with Manson and Foley not far behind him. "What are you guys doing here, I mean… I thought… but, Kwan you… how?"

He was clearly confused and so was I. Valerie had somehow claimed the title of leader a long time ago and answered for all of us. "We were going to ask you the same thing."

We all stood in an awkward silence. Fenton was the first to speak up nervously, "So, uh, you guys want to join us or something?"

"Sure,"

"Okay then… this way then." He led the way back to the fire… and the food.

Their back packs were all in one heap, sleeping bags next to them, rolled up and ready to be unrolled and slept in. Once we were in more light I saw that they were worse than I thought but still not as bad as us. "Whoa, what happened to you guys?" Sam Manson asked us glancing at each one of us.

"You look like something that the cat dragged in." Foley added with a bit of amusement in his voice. I was too tired and hungry to even glare at him for it.

Even though we were all in similar situations there were still tensions between us. I mean geeks and popular kids don't mingle with each other and that's the way it's always been. What Fenton said kind of surprised me a bit, "Do you guys want something to eat? We got plenty."

We were all too hungry to refuse and my food I had no idea how to prepare it or if it even was food at all. When we were all sitting down Fenton handed us a stick with some food on it. I bit into it loving the taste of it. Valerie and Dash were also eating it. Dash was totally scarfing the stuff down.

"Whoa take it easy Dash," Foley said, "You're going to choke."

Dash slowed down a bit after that.

I looked over to Paulina and Star and saw that they were carefully eyeing the food in their hands. "What's wrong?" Sam sighed looking over at them.

Paulina looked up to her and said, "Is this," she held up the food on a stick up, "Even sanitary?"

At that moment I thought it was a stupid thing to ask. Food was food right and I've eaten food served on sticks before and personally I think it adds a light tangy flavor to the food when you get to the end part of it.

Not that I've tasted wood before…or anything of course because that would be just weird and… uh.

Just. Forget it.

"Gee Paulina I'm sorry that there isn't any gourmet plates here." Sam retorted sarcastically. The two of them shot glares at each other and it looked like Sam was getting ready to say something or do something else but Fenton stopped her.

He told her something that I couldn't hear (I really wish that they'd stop doing that). She sighed instead and got back to eating her food of some vegetarian tuff I guess. I had to admit that I was impressed that Fenton could get Manson to calm down like that.

It was Valerie who said to Paulina coldly, "If you don't like it you guys don't have to eat it you know."

Paulina shot a scathing look at her but said nothing and just picked bits off and ate it like that instead in silence. Star just followed what Paulina was doing like always. I had been too busy looking at the girls almost get into a fight that I hadn't realized that I had eaten everything until I bit down on the wood.

I don't know how but it seemed as if Fenton read my mind, "Kwan, do you want some more?" He held up another stick of food and I took it, Dash was already half way through his third one already.

This time I ate more slowly and actually tasted and savored the stuff and it was really good. "Hey Fenton," Valerie said.

"Yeah?"

"Where'd you get this?"

"Get what?" he asked confused. Manson rolled her eyes and just continued eating.

"This,"

At last he caught on, man no wonder he and the Goth weren't together yet, "Oh! The food… well we used some of the stuff that The Elders gave us with our packs. You know it was that dried up stuff. You jut had to add a bit of water and heat it up or eat it like a gruel."

"I ate some of it dried but it didn't taste like this." I stated.

Fenton chuckled a bit and smiled, "We used the fruit to add some flavor to it after Tucker complained about it-"

"Nonstop-" Manson smiled.

"For three hours-"

"And had to-"

"Okay guys they get it!" Foley cried out glaring at his two friends who just grinned innocently ay him.

It was funny how they argued. But it wasn't a bad type of arguing but a friendly type where it was okay to poke at one another once in a while but they wouldn't turn on each other and humiliate each other in front of others.

Watching them I felt a little jealous of them. As soon as that thought entered my thoughts I took it out. Why should I be jealous of them anyway? I mean I had popularity and a spot on the football team and a good future ahead of me for sure. A pretty girlfriend and friends. There was nothing to be jealous of them.

…Right?

"So did you guys have any trouble getting this far?" Foley asked lightly.

"Actually yeah," Dash said.

"We ran into this really creepy bug thing that tried to eat us!" Star continued for him. I guess what they'd been through before I joined them must have shaken her up pretty bad. I moved closer to her to comfort her a bit.

I'd ask her about that later when we could be alone away from everyone else.

The rest of the time Fenton talked with his friends and sometimes Valerie, I talked with Dash, Star and Paulina. When everyone had eaten it was time for bed, and again one group slept in one place the other in another place.

It was pretty dark and almost everyone was asleep. The fire was almost out but I could see someone from the loser's place get up and walk towards the waterfall. I decided to follow them despite that I was tired but I really wanted to know what they were up to at night time.

They climbed up some rocks and I followed a safe distance behind so I didn't spook them. That and because I couldn't climb as fast as them. I still couldn't see their face but by the time I reached the top of one boulder they were on the edge pf another one, a higher one.

When I got there I was out of breath but relieved that they had stopped. Quietly stepping forward I could see that it was Fenton. He was doing nothing but looking up at the sky. I stepped forward and said, "What are you doing?"

He yelped in fright and jumped into the air, wheeling around looking tense, "Oh Kwan, it's just you." He relaxed a bit before asking, "W-What are you doing here?"

Funny how I was about to ask him the same thing. Instead I just said, "I was going to ask you the same thing,"

I don't know why he looked nervous but Fenton was always acting weird. Usually at school he would almost always seemed tense and nervous about something. But what does a guy like him have to be nervous about…?

"Why were you looking up at the sky?" I asked.

He shifted around for a minute before answering, "I was just…looking at the stars."

I raised an eyebrow at that, "Why?"

"The stars, the stars are exactly the same as back home." He said getting this weird far off look on his face.

"Yeah, so?" what did that have to do with anything anyway?

He smile and pointed at one particular star, "That's the North Star, so that way I can see which direction were headed and which way to go the next day so we won't get lost as easily." He explained, "Like today, we needed to head towards the mountain right. Well, there's a river about half a mile east of here and it's flowing that way," he pointed to where he had come from. "So that means that the river has to begin somewhere and since it doesn't seem like there's any lake or ocean nearby it must come from-"

"I get it now, snow from a mountain and the mountain that everyone is supposed to go to is the only mountain around!" That was actually pretty smart of Fenton to figure out. I would have never thought of using the stars, they were like your own personal map and compass.

"Exactly," he glanced back to where everyone else was. "We should go back now before the others see that we're gone."

I nodded and followed him as he descended down way slower than how he got up in the first place. Still something was really bugging me. "Hey Fenton,"

"Yeah Kwan?"

"Why did you go all the way up there to look at the stars, wouldn't it have been the same thing to just look at them from the camp?"

"Well-I –just…uh… like the…view," he said lamely.

That was good enough for me. Besides I was too tired to pay much attention to his weirdness right now all that I wanted to do was get into my sleeping bag and snooze until the end of the year if possible.

I stumbled a bit over something but kept going to where I had left my stuff. I made a pillow out of my back pack and just laid on my sleeping bag. For the first time ever since that fist day here when everyone was still together. I felt okay with a full stomach and the knowing that people that I knew were around me.

It was strange how I had ended up running into those three again but I was complaining. They had given me food and had even let us stay here even though they were here first. It was strange how they acted especially Fenton.

At school we made fun of him, beat him up, and pulled pranks on him. He was far from our friend but he still helped us…

Great now my brain hurts from thinking too much. I'll leave this stuff to think about for tomorrow now it was time to sleep.

* * *

**Not much has happened but next chapter will hold some more. Why was Danny up on that rock, what have Sam, Tucker, and Danny been talking about, what has happened to them, why are they being nice to them? Find out in the next chapter. Now try to guess who the next person to speak will be.** **You can vote you know. Send me your answer on who you guys want it to be and I'll do which ever person gets the most requests alright.**


	7. Sam part 1

**Here it is chapter 7. Man a lot of you guys really wanted it to be Sam or Danny so I flipped a coin to decide and I hope you're all happy. I've only started High School and I have had to get adjusted to my new study schedule to ensure I stay on top of my game. It's getting better but my hand starts to cramp up and so until I get used to it then I might be typing a bit slow. **

**Luckily This one didn't take to long to write just to beta but that can easily be fixed through me forcing my butt into a chair and sitting still and concentrating on ust one thing for more than twenty seconds.**

**Yeah... short attention spans really suck sometimes.**

* * *

_Chapter 7_

* * *

_(Sam's POV)_

_Okay…deep cleansing breaths _

_In_

…

_Out_

…

_Don't think about it._

_If you don't then it'll go away_

_In_

…

_Out_

…

_In_

_Now breathe in and out slowly and it'll…_

"Ugh! This place is so _groossssss!!!!"_

_Completely push me to the edge!_

I snapped around to give that she-devil a piece of my mind but something stopped me as I was making my way to Paulina.

Holding me back was Danny with a firm grip on wrist keeping me from carrying out one of the many plans that I had stored up for us against Paulina to make her suffer.

We… as in me, Danny, Tucker, Paulina, Valerie, Star, Dash, and Kwan we're currently marching through a foot or so of murky swamp water in order to get to land on the other side.

Too bad land was at least a couple of miles or so away and walking arcoss mud with fifty pounds on your back wasn't exactly a sure way to get over there fast.

True that it's only been an hour since we first set off from camp, but I swear that after hearing all about how their clothes were getting dirty and that she had almost broken a nail climbing over a rock, I was about ready to burn her at stake like the witch that she was.

Just once I wanted to give that spoiled, rotten, little-

"…Sam calm down this isn't the right time and place to fight with her." Danny said to me calmly, nudging me back in the direction we've been going in since morning.

He held my wrist so that we were a little farther behind and let the others past us. Tucker was the only one who noticed and sent us a questioning stare but said nothing and kept going.

Probably because he thought I was going to do something to 'Perfect' Paulina.

Tempting though, we followed behind slowly with Danny still holding my hand.

I sighed and let him lead me for a second longer…

Um… not that I liked it or anything it's just that…uh…well…I just needed some help in controlling my anger!

Yeah! That's it!

I mean when I'm mad I can just trip over anything… so uh... it's best to have someone help me outs when I'm like this. Other wise I'd be as clumsy as Danny.

Though I have to admit it is kind of cute…

ACK!!!

Danny's voice brought me back out of my thoughts before I started mentally rambling on.

"Hey Sam you okay?"

He had a look of concern on his face and he looked at me questioningly with an eyebrow arched up.

"Huh? Oh… Yeah I'm just swell…"

Apparently he didn't buy it for a second and kept looking at me with a stern face.

"Come on Sam, I know that's not the problem."

"It's nothing alright," I said hoping that he'd drop the subject.

No luck there. I swear Danny could teach both a mule and a rock a few lessons about being hard-headed and stubborn. But I guess that's what makes Danny, Danny.

He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah cause you sound real find Sam," he retorted sarcastically "Now what's really-" He stopped for a moment in order to clear a couple of branches in order for us to catch-up with the others up ahead a couple of yards, "-up?"

But on the upside it did give us a bit off privacy away from the Gossip President of the U.S.A and her fellow deputies and jurisdiction branches as well.

As soon as we passed through and managed to walk to where we're not losing sight of the group but they wouldn't be able to over hear us talking.

It seemed that he wasn't going to give up anytime soon.

"Fine," I said brushing aside a branch from my head, "It's just… why did we have to bring them along Danny? Do you know how much harder this'll be now! I mean who's to say that Dash or Valerie won't just start snooping around every time you go off huh! Danny sooner or later they'll get suspicious and-"

"I know."

I stood dumbstruck for a second wondering if I had heard him right before I regained my senses.

"What do mean you know?" my voice was tight with anger and I could feel my fists shaking a bit.

He turned and faced me looking me straight in the eye and at that moment my anger vanished when I saw how tired he was.

I hadn't noticed before because everything has been happening so fast and yesterday was the only real break that we've gotten since this whole thing started and after Kwan left us.

Danny's hair seemed and there were dark circles under his eyes, even messier than usual even though I'm sure that he got at least six hours of sleep last night. Most days he barely gets five and this place isn't any better if not worse considering we've got fifty pounds to carry on our backs, and Danny can't use his ghost powers.

That doesn't mean we're helpless though. All those fights really helped to improve all of our fighting skills, especially Danny since he does most of the fighting anyway and with ghosts that sometimes Tucker and I don't even know about.

His eyes didn't have the normal shine that they had to them but instead a fog that clouded them making them appear dull like a gem that had lost its luster. There was nothing in them except some sort of unspoken pain that was enough to make me want to just hold him tight.

Another thing was that I could see the tip of a bruise near the collar of his shirt but he adjusted the strap of his backpack before I could get a closer look and question him about it.

I didn't doubt for an instance that he had been in some sort of fight recently and that he didn't tell us about it because he was worried.

Ugh! I hate it when he does that! He can be so stupid sometimes with his whole 'hero act'. Danny can get so preoccupied with everyone else being safe that he doesn't care how hurt he is and I swear that it's going to get him killed one of these days.

"I mean that I already knew that it would be more difficult for us to reach the mountain," he stated calmly.

"So why bring them along with us then?" I asked truly curious.

"Because I didn't want them getting hurt out there," he started to explain in a hushed tone as an extra precaution. Stepping over a fallen log half submerged in the mud he continued, "You know as well as me that none of them, except maybe Valerie, stand a chance out here. I mean, Nathan and Mikey looked ready to quit when we found them and if we hadn't then…" He didn't say anymore, he didn't need to.

I suddenly understood and nodded. He was right on several levels, even though I hated to admit it, but we were probably the only ones here that even had a clue what they were doing.

Danny was just doing what he does best. He's looking out for others. It's just something that I both hate and love about him sometimes. I like how he's compassionate for others, but I hate it when it causes him to get hurt beyond compare.

"That may be, but you know they could just use that necklace that the Elders gave everyone before we were blasted here." I pointed out hoping that he'd see the light of day and that I was willing to be just as stubborn as him.

He rolled his eyes and starred ahead to where Paulina was busy getting rid of a couple of leaves out of her hair and Star was looming over her like an obedient pet. Valerie was glaring at them tapping her foot impatiently waiting for them to hurry up so that they could get going again.

Dash and Kwan were nervously looking in the water, probably trying to see if there were any snakes of other creatures lurking around in the water.

But honestly the water wasn't so much water as it was mud and sludge. It smelled pretty badly too and the first time we had to wade through it I could feel a nose bleed coming on.

On the other hand it was the fastest and safest route and we were bound to reach woodlands sooner or later. Danny told me yesterday while we were taking a much needed break that if we kept on walking for five more miles then we'd be out of this swamp and then we could just follow the river upstream.

"True but you know as much as I do that Dash and Kwan are too stupid to even remember that they have it, Paulina and Star probably forgot about it too, but Valerie is too proud to just quit like that." He informed me.

Danny was right about Paulina, Dash, Kwan, and Star but something was bugging me though, "How do you know that about Valerie," I said a little tight trying he best to mask my bitterness, thank God Danny could be so clueless so he completely missed it.

He gave me a light smile and said matter-of-factly, "Well… I did go out with her after all."

_Don't remind me, _I retorted in my mind silently wishing I could just kill Technus for trying to push them together in the first place!

"Uh-huh, yeah I heard the rumors Danny and seen it so-"

"Wait," he stopped, "Back-up how could see if you weren't there?" he looked pretty confused but it was quickly being over come by suspicion.

_Oops_

"Well I uh… was uh…" I stuttered. _Ah! What to say what to say!_

"Hey guys what's up."

We both looked over towards Tucker who was trudging his way over to us. With Danny temporarily distracted I let out a mental sigh of relief. Never had I been so happy to see Tucker and when he wanted to interrupt a conversation between just me and Danny.

He waved to us and said, "What's taking you guys so much. Oh and by the way Danny," Tucker directed to Danny crossing his arms with a look of irritation on his face, "Dude next time you want to take a nice hike through a swamp that looks and _smells _like our school's plumbing system count me out!"

Danny was obviously having a hard time containing his laughter since it looked like his face was having battle from laughing out loud and remaining serious about the situation at the same time.

"Sorry," he choked out then in a more straight tone he said, "But this is the fastest way to get to the mountain."

"Yeah but… why does it always have to be the fastest way that also the smelliest and most disgusting way there? Just once couldn't it be through a beach full of hot girls in swimsuits or through a modeling agency for single models our age? Is that too much to ask for I mean seriously dude!"

That irked my feminism attitude towards the comment, "Uh-huh and maybe boys won't waste their tiny little brains on video games one day…"

"_Hey!"_ Danny and Tucker cried out clearly insulted.

I returned their dirty looks with an innocent smile of my own, "But we both know that isn't going to happen anytime soon now will it?"

Both of them huffed in their misery making my grin grow even wider and more devious. I knew none of them could counter it since it was one of those unwritten truths of the cosmos and no matter what they did they couldn't deny it.

I love seeing these two like this; especially when I'm the one putting them down, but if anyone else tries to I'd probably rip their eyes out and incinerate their organs leaving the rest of their bodies for fish food at the bottom of the ocean.

But, I don't want to pollute the ocean but there are plenty of different alternatives that are just as good.

We caught up back with the A-listers just in time too. I caught a sight of how Valerie was looking curiously at the three of us and then looked away.

"Ow! _I think I broke a nail." _Paulina squealed looking over her hands with a look of disgust of actually having to touch dirt, "And my hands are getting as dirty and disgusting as Goth Girl's!"

"Hello I'm right here I can here everything your saying you know," I scolded through my teeth.

Like always she ignored me and concentrated on herself, "I can't believe I actually agreed to going with you guys."

"Well then maybe you should just quit then," I replied making it seem like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

And it probably was at the moment but seeing as she had an IQ of less than the size of shoes she wears I didn't expect her to catch on so quickly as she had then at the moment.

"And miss out on that wish, ha, I don't think so," she said cruelly shooting me a glare as cold as well… Danny's ice powers. But that wasn't what bothered me it was the tone of determination in her voice.

I've heard her use it before and that was when she wanted something so badly that she was willing to do anything to get it and that's only been about three times in her entire life.

Unfortunately one of those things just so happened to be Danny. Well, not Danny _Fenton_ but rather Danny _Phantom_ but either way I wasn't gonna let that soul sucking leech of humanity get her claws into Danny if I could help it.

Danny's my best friend and there was no way I was going to let him get his heart broken by the likes of her. He was hurt enough after the whole "Technus" thing in space with Valerie and doesn't need another heartbreak right now. Not with everything else that's going on around here.

Not that I was jealous or anything I'm just you know…uh…looking out for a friend. Cause that's what friends do. They look out for each other! Yeah, that was it!

"I'm not going to call it quits not with something as good as this and I'm not going to let anything get in my way," she stood up and absently brushed away a speck of dirt off of her legs and started to strut through the water like it was a runway.

It left the rest of us a bit open mouthed before we hurried to follow her. For a few minutes she was leading us until we came to some sort of fork.

It wasn't really a fork but more like a cluster of trees all jammed up together so that it spilt the swamp into two sections.

"Okay so which way do we go?" Kwan asked looking from right to left in confusion, tightening the grip on his backpack straps gave the impression that right now he was in a state of near panic at the moment.

I guess something must have happened to him went he spilt from us earlier and must have shaken him up pretty badly to leave him like this.

….But then again he and Dash never had been the type to have a strong backbone when it came to fighting for their lives without the help others. And by others I mean their parents' money and their little football friends.

Danny stepped forward and carefully looked between the two paths then at the water and then at the trees around us. I didn't have any idea why but Danny seemed to have keener senses ever since he started hunting ghosts and that's without his powers as well.

Valerie seemed to be deep in thought, Dash was standing next to Kwan with a similar reaction, and Star and Paulina were busy trying to get some mud off their clothes.

_Figures that they choose to do these type of clothes during times like this, _I thought bitterly in my head.

"So where to man?" Tucker whispered besides Danny so that we were the only ones who could here him.

"Hang on, give me a minute," Danny seemed to be thinking of something, his eyes darted back and forth from one thing to another that it was hard to follow them.

After a moment he answered loud enough for everyone to hear, "Okay, we go left."

"Huh?" Valerie simply said in confusion as she was broken away from her own thoughts. "What did you say?"

"I said that we ought to go left," he repeated. Paulina and Star just looked at him and then at each other as if trying to make up their minds, and Dash had a smirk on his face.

"I just why should we do what you say Fen-_turd_?" he asked obnoxiously.

Was it too hard for him to stop pretending like he owned the whole world? Just because mommy and daddy could get him anything he wanted doesn't mean that it's going to work here.

"Fine Dash then what do you suggest we do then?" Danny shot back.

"I say we go right,"

"And why is that?"

"Well… uh… because anything you say is obviously wrong so we should do the opposite and I bet you have no clue what you're doing as usual and will probably end up screwing up like always so there." Dash said triumphantly making me roll my eyes in disgust at how much a complete ass he could be.

Even out here in the middle of a swamp in some unknown region full of giant man-eating monsters he still acted like an idiot.

The sad thing was that this whole trip reminded me of camp, only the food is way better than it was there, at least it doesn't look since it's been here on this planet for over thirty years…

"Sure Dash now give me one good reason why he should follow you?" I retorted shooting him a glare and crossing my arms.

"Because I'm captain of the football team and I obviously have skills in leadership so it's clear who the leader should be."

At that moment Valerie entered the conversation, "Hmm… You know I seem to recall a certain someone cowering like a scarred puppy when they thought a stick was a snake while they were rolling up their sleeping bag this morning."

Dash shot her a dirty look which just earned him a frosty one back.

"Alright then what do you suggest that we do then huh? If you're so smart then which way is it."

Valerie faltered for a second, "We ought to… I think we ought to…"

"That's what I thought," he said smugly, "Now come on it's this way." He brushed by us and made his way to the right.

Kwan cut up to him but they were still within hearing distance, "I don't know man maybe we should…"

"No I know what I'm doing and there's no way I'm going to take direction from Fenton now lets go," he snapped back.

Kwan looked like he had more to say but closed his mouth.

Valerie looked over to Star and Paulina, "…Well?"

"Well what?" Star asked.

"'Well' don't you two have anything to say?"

"Not really…"

"No," Paulina replied in a monotone, "and who cares as long as we get out of this sewage rat nest the better do seriously know how bad my pores are getting from being exposed to this much swamp gas?"

They both headed to catch up to Dash and Kwan. Valerie sighed and gave an apology glance to Danny and started away with the rest of them leaving just me, Danny, and Tucker all alone.

When the sound of their feet splashing through the water couldn't be heard anymore the three of us stood in silence looking to where they had disappeared into the mist and around another huge tree whose branches rose and became part of the thick green canopy above us that made it so no sun would enter.

Vines as thick as my thighs looped and curled around trunks of trees like giant boa constrictors, several of them had these weird pods on them the size of my fist. I didn't know what they were and I didn't want to find out anytime soon.

The first night during this whole _experience _shall we say, taught us to only ouch or get near the plants that are the same as back home, and that was only _if _they weren't dangerous to begin with.

I mean Tucker was almost eaten alive my some giant venous fly trap when they normally only grow as big as a daisy at most not a whole ten feet tall!

Thank goodness that Danny and I are familiar with several species of plants. Otherwise we could already be dead from just food poisoning.

"_Sooo_ what now?" Tucker asked breaking the silence.

"I guess we just follow them then," Danny sighed.

"What! Man are you serious?"

"For once I'm with Tucker here," I said standing next to Tucker.

"I am serious you guys and doesn't look like we have much of a choice,"

"Uh, yeah we do. We could just forget about them Danny and go left, easy as that." I stated crossing my arms and frowning.

"Sam's right, just forget about them man and let's go this place is starting to give me a serious nose bleed."

"Come on guys we can't just let them walk off like that to their possible doom like that," Danny insisted.

"Yes we can Danny, they'll just slow us down and what's to say that they wouldn't take our stuff while were not looking and shoot off leaving us for the dogs huh?"

"They're not that cold hearted Sam,"

I gave him a questionable look, "Okay maybe they are but…"

"Seriously Danny let it go, they chose which way they wanted to go now I say that we go where we want to go now. We've managed to help them out this far I think that they can handle themselves now." Tucker added backing me up.

Finally agreeing in defeat Danny nodded, "You're right, let's…"

"_**KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**_

He was cut off mid sentence by a loud high pitched scream that I'd know anywhere from ten miles away.

"Oh man that was Paulina!"

Before I could say a word he darted off right to where the others had gone.

"Come one Tucker!" I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him behind me ignoring his yelp of surprise and protest from being treated as such.

…_Guys could be such babies._

Water splashed and caked my clothes with mud and other things but that didn't matter at the moment. I was too busy making sure not to lose sight of Danny so that we wouldn't get separated, which wasn't exactly the best thing in the middle of a swamp.

We quickly turned a corner and stopped and just gaped at what we saw.

Giant spiders were descending from above and it wouldn't have been that much a big deal if it weren't for the fact that they were the size of _SUVS!!!_

They fell by the dozens and there was sure to be over fifty of them and counting some were only three feet but I hate to say that they seemed to be the smallest ones.

All of them looked like the giant spiders you see in movie that had swallowed toxic waste or something. Their fangs were huge and razor sharp, dripping with poison and looked like they were ready for a helping of four teens.

The spiders were black with red, green, violet, or yellow marking on their backs that looked like two swords passing through a crescent moon but I didn't get too close of a look.

Their hairy bodies formed a ring and I wasn't too familiar with spider behavior but my guess that they were ready to cocoon our schoolmates alive and drag them back to their nests to eat or offer to a female.

…Well…Paulina being eaten wouldn't be so bad….

"_**AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**_

One of the spiders noticed us and had a hungry look in its eye and something told my gut that we were on the main course.

The worst part of it was that as soon as I looked directly into its multiple red eyes I felt completely devoid of all energy. It was as if my soul was being ripped apart from me just by looking at those eyes.

It charged towards me with it's fangs out clamping them threatening, dripping with saliva and all that I could do was just stand there.

My legs turned to jello, I couldn't breath… I just froze, I couldn't think or breath all that I did was look at those eyes.

Somewhere out there someone called my name but I couldn't tell who it was. It barely even registered at the back of my head.

All that I kept thinking about is that I was going to die and I was too weak to do anything.

_Come on, come one move! _my mind shouted but my body just wasn't responding.

I could feel my self trembling as that monster came gliding across the water like a high speed boat going 85 mile per hour in three seconds flat. It jumped launching it self into the air and heading straight for me.

Its front legs were out stretched like arms and the hair on its exoskeleton, now up close, looked like foot long needles all pointing at me and probably to hold on to me too.

Something pushed me out of the way taking me out of my momentary trance making me hit the water with a splash and causing the person to land on top of me in the process.

I shook my head to see that it was Danny standing over me protectively glaring at the spider.

It landed on the water perfectly and quickly turned to face where we were. Tucker was being cornered by two larger ones and three other of the spider's friends had decided to come and join it.

"Sam are you alright?" Danny asked not looking at me; he kept his eyes on the spiders as they seemed to be forming some sort of line, getting a defensive position and ready for any attack that might come.

I gulped and nodded, "Yeah,"

"Good," he paused for a second then in a serious tone said, "I'm going to give you some cover and when I do go and help Tucker then try to get to the others. And when you do run and fast as you can into deeper water. I don't think these guys can swim all too well."

"But-" I wanted to argue with him and to tell him that he couldn't just take these guys on his own but a scream from Paulina and Star as the spiders started to cocoon them in sticky webbing distracted me.

"Sam don't argue with me and just do it," Danny commanded in a serious way that said not to disobey. "I'll be right, I promise I won't let anything happen to you guys." He tilted his head and gave me a small smile.

I couldn't say anything for a second.

I've never heard him talk like that before…

"Okay get ready…"

I got up and was ready to sprint for my life.

"NOW!"

I bolted for my life trying to reach Tucker kicking up gallons of water and thoroughly soaking any part of me that was left dry.

Trying hard not to look back I kept straight on to where Tucker was pinned against tree in a silvery net with a terrified expression glued to his face as a spider crept closer and closer to his body.

Thinking quickly, I pulled out a dead branch from the water that was floating around and charged using it like a bat of some sort. "_Hey Spider Face! Try this one for size!" _

With all my might I swung it like a giant bug swatter sending that sucker flying a good ten feet away, breaking the branch in two, and leaving it dazed and long enough for me to reach Tucker.

I dropped the now completely useless piece of wood and tried to get the web off of him.

"Boy am I glad to see you!" he greeted gratefully happy to finally no longer be glued to the tree and having the ability to move his limbs freely again.

"No problem Tuck, now come on we have to…"

"**_BEHIND YOU!!!!!!!"_**

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**TA DA!!!!**

**Yes! I got this up and not too shabby if I do say so my self. I decided to stop there just to leave you guys guessing on who is going to be next and **_**what's **_**going to happen next. **

**Don't you just love it when people do cliff hangers like that?**

**Back to business though like I said I'll be picking randomly on which story will be next and I'm doing that right now hang on a second. **_**(Get's hat with slips of paper in them) **_**Let's see who the lucky winners are. **

**Drum roll please!**

**And the winners are….**

_**Fairytales Come True, Fight or Die, and One of Us!**_

**Now one of these three stories will be updated next and you guys get to decide which one. Have fun! - and thank-you for all of your awesome reviews and a special thanks to my beta-readers **_**Ali Phantom**_** and **_**Blue Beluga**_


	8. Sam part 2

**I'm kicking my brain into over drive with this one. I literally couldn't tear myself from the computer until this was done. This was way too much fun to write. If this took too long to update I'm sorry but I've been busy for the last few months with school. My for update for 2008!**

**My DA account finally has some work done by me. So if you want to check it out go on ahead the link is on my profile. Also I have a poll up and running for fans of HSNE to determine if Danny should be in Hero or Sidekick. So you get to have your say. I'll have it open for a couple more weeks but that's it.

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_**Chapter 8**_

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_(Sam's POV continued…)_

"_**LOOK OUT!!!!"**_

I turned long enough to see the spider that I had hit coming at me again, only this time it brought along a friend. Tucker and I jumped out of the way just in time, so that those things ended up crashing with the trunk of the tree Tucker had been pinned to just ten seconds ago. They hit hard, sending bits of wood in the air before dropping into the water on their backs. Floating there, I couldn't tell if they were dead or alive, but I sure as hell wasn't going to stick around to find out.

We got up and bolted away from them. That took care of two of them, now we just had one-hundred more to go…

"Tucker we have to free the others!" I yelled at him as we dodged a volley of sticky silk raining down on us as other spiders turned their attention to the two terrified humans running through the water. Tucker looked back and screamed.

"Sam, get down!" He pushed me down into the water with himself. The dark liquid engulfed us as we went under. I opened my eyes to see something big and fast skim the surface above, churning the water and making it like we were caught inside a storm at sea.

Somewhere, in those few seconds underwater, Tucker and I got separated. Even though the water was shallow, it felt like an eternity until I finally came up, gasping for breath and coughing up a bucket's worth of mud.

"Tucker!" I cried out looking around for any sign of that stupid red hat.

"Over here, Sam!" He waved his hand to signify his location.

I looked to my left and let out a sigh of relief, thankful that he was alright. I jogged over to where he was. Tuck was ringing out his beret with a look of discomfortment as he placed it back on his head with a sloshing sound.

"Awe great," he whined pitifully, "and I just had this thing washed."

Despite our current situation, I rolled my eyes at how badly placed Tucker's priorities were. _Boys really are hopeless…_

As I was about to retort, Paulina and Star screamed again as their now cocooned bodies were being lifted up by these monsters and carried off into the trees. Even though I didn't like the girl, I didn't want her to be carried off by giant spiders and have her insides sucked out of her while she was probably still alive! That's something I wouldn't want to wish on anybody, even Paulina.

_Though I have to admit, that the mental image of her in utter terror does sound pretty funny…_

"Come on Tuck, let's take out these eight-legged freaks," I said as I pulled out the knife from where it was safely tied to my ankle. I'm so glad that I had tied it there the first night here on our own.

"Right! I'll be right behind you," he got snapped off a branch from a dead log and held it like a club, "Let's go kick some spider booty!"

We grinned at each other and charged with our pathetic weapons, but hey it was better than nothing. I threw my knife up first to the ones that were hanging onto Paulina and Star, hitting it dead on in the center of its head. The creature let out a roar of pain as its own blood started flowing out, blinding it. Instantly, it let go of the two airheads so that they fell into the water, still wrapped up, with a splash while the spider overhead thrashed around violently in the canopy until it too, fell down in the water.

I watched for a second in a fighting stance just in case it got back up. At first, there was just air bubble coming up for a few seconds then they stopped. True, I'm against the killing of animals; I can make an exception just this one time. Honestly, I wasn't feeling too bad about not seeing that thing again.

I went over to where it now floated up on its back motionless and pulled out my knife, wiping some of the bug blood off of it. Good thing too, its body was beginning to sink into the ground. Right now, I wasn't in the mood or had the time to waste on looking for my knife in millions of gallons of muck. Star's cries of discomfort reminded me that I still had to free the two of them. I rushed over to where Paulina and Star were squirming around in the water (_and whining_).

"_Ewe!!!!! This is so gross!" _Star shrieked trying to free herself from her entrapment. From my point of you she looked close to a white worm. "Manson get me out of here!" she ordered as I got closer.

I growled but bit my tongue to keep from shooting back at her, _'Easy girl,' _I told myself_, 'Now's not the time to fight with these two Barbies, Danny and Tucker need you.' _

"Hold still," I snapped.

When Paulina saw the flash of my blade she screamed, "You better not cut anything other than these disgusting things Goth Girl or—"

"_Or what?"_ I retorted, "You'll squirm all over me." She gave me a scathing look, but I didn't care; if Dash and the others had just listen to Danny in the first place we wouldn't be in this mess! "You're not in the position to tell me what to do, so unless you want to be stuck here and become spider food I suggest you shut-up." My threat got her trap to finally close for once in her life. "Now hold still."

I bent over Star and carefully began to cut away. Star was a more corporative than I thought; she closed her eyes and bit her lip to keep it from trembling. It was a good thing that the webs hadn't started to harden just yet, otherwise I would have had to stab the stuff and that could have meant seriously hurting these two if I wasn't careful. It only took a moment before Star was free. "Come on, help me free Paulina," Star nodded and obeyed.

The whole time that Star and I were cutting away, the queen of evil was glaring at me as if I was the most disgusting thing in existence. The next time that a giant spider wants to eat her I'll be more than happy to give her away. Ungrateful, shallow, selfish…! Once she was free, she brushed herself off removing as much mud as possible. God! Even in a time like this she _still_ thought that grooming and self presentation was more important than anything else.

_She's worse than my mother!_

I saw Tucker helping Dash out of the web, Valerie and Kwan were already helping Danny keep the spiders at bay, but we were still severely out numbered; for every spider they took out it either got back up after a short time or was replace by another two or three of its friends.

The three of us ran over to help them out as best as we could. Tucker glanced our way, "Hey what took so long?" he joked as I stood next to him.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes and cast a frosty look over and Paulina, who was hiding behind Dash and Kwan with Star, who looked down right terrified.

Deep down _(and I can't believe I'm saying this)_ I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for them. They aren't use to what Danny, Tucker, and I face on a daily basis; one look at them told any person with an ounce of logic that they weren't made for hard work and getting their hands dirty.

"Not now Tucker. Look out!" I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out of the way as four more spiders landed to where he had just been. I swear those things were grinning at us with a hungry look in there eyes, and the dripping of venom from their fangs_ really_ did complete the scene.

Thinking fast I hurled out my knife again hitting another one in the head.

"Ha!" I gloated but then regretted it. The others looked at me, and I could tell that they weren't all that happy. "Uh-oh."

I high-tailed it out there as fast as I could; it's amazing how a life and death situation can make your body move faster than anyone could have thought possible in a foot of mud and water with a fifty pound load on your back.

Wait a minute!

"What am I doing?" I halted and looked through my bag for what I was looking for and found it. I smirked and worked fast, in no time, I had a make-shift weapon by tying a piece of rope to one of the weights inside. I swung it over my head spinning it faster and faster until I was comfortable with its speed. Then, I let it go like a whip, watching it as it snapped as it made contact with one of the spiders that was chasing me.

There was no time to waste as I brought it back to me and prepared to unleash it again. Looks like these things were good for something after all. Apparently Danny had found a way to use the stuff in his bag as well. He managed to bring down three spiders with one sweep of the roughly made spear. My guess is that he made it out of a stick, some rope, and his knife.

Valerie was doing fine with hand to hand combat, pushing off with her legs to send one bug crashing into another. Dash and Kwan were tackling one after another as hard as they could. I guess it was a good thing that they never were too bright and were used to getting tackled a lot. Otherwise, well… I'd have to say that they'd be unconscious right about now. Tucker had caught up with Danny and was helping him out a bit by just throwing what ever he could find in the water: rocks, sticks, branches, mud, and… a shoe?

I didn't have time to ponder to long it, because I was a little preoccupied with my own problems at the moment. I grunted as one of these Frankenstein Bugs managed to knock me off my feet from behind while I was doing away with two of its friends. I lost grip of the rope in my hand, losing my so-called weapon in the water. _Just great…_ stuck in a swamp with man eating monsters, no weapons but my own hands, and cornered.

_Suddenly I felt like I was back in school…_

Biting my lip, I searched frantically for some way out of this. They started to get closer and closer. My heart was now practically jumping out of my chest as I broke out into a cold sweat, I could practically feel those things' venomous fangs biting into me. I didn't realize it, but I was screaming out loud in fear. Waiting for that moment of death seemed to take forever. My life went flashing before my eyes along with all of my regrets in life and the number of things that I could have changed.

Something wet fell on my cheek, that's when I finally had the nerve to look. A wave of dread hit my core at what I saw. Standing in front of me protectively was Danny, with a huge gash in his arm that was bleeding heavily and bits of purplish goo stuck to the edges of the wound running down the side of his bicep a bit in thin lines. He was panting heavily and glaring frostily at the spider that had tried to attack me.

It could have been my imagination, but the spider looked to be shrinking away from Danny in terror. I can't say I blamed it. I've never seen Danny look so hostile before, not even with Vlad. His Eyes were ablaze with pure anger and hatred, and the knife in his uninjured arm gave Danny a sort of wild look to him. Some how, the boy standing in front of me didn't look like the clumsy, sweet, and care-free Danny Fenton that I've known since elementary school.

Out of its side, there was a branch embedded deep within it. By the look of it, I'd have to say that it was part of the staff that Danny had the last time I had seen him, which was about a minute ago. Staggering in the water, it looked like it was having trouble to keep from passing out—if spiders could even pass out in the first place.

Danny looked at me with concern, "Sam, you alright?"

"Um, yeah…I'm okay now." I said meekly, still a little shaken, "Thanks for the save." He gave me one last smile and looked over to the rest of the group. It didn't look like they could last much longer either.

All of our stamina was quickly fading and showing signs as Valerie was knocked through the air and landed roughly in the water. Tucker was with Star and Paulina, desperately chucking rocks but to little or no avail, Dash and Kwan were panting and looked dizzy as more and more of these giant spiders kept on coming towards us, driving us back.

We needed to escape, and fast, otherwise we'd all end up as dinner. Frantically, I glanced at our surroundings for any opening, but it seemed pointless as more and more just kept on coming. It was eight teenage kids, who were rapidly tiring, against more that one-hundred super arachnids with large fangs and even larger appetites.

From the looks of things, it looked like these guys were trying to round us all up together, before they picked us off one at a time. I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I barely noticed when Danny began speaking to me.

"…Sam."

I looked at him, "Yeah?"

"How are the others doing?"

I bit my lip at how desperate our situation was becoming by the second, "Not to good, we need a plan and fast."

He fell silent and just stood there; I couldn't see his face since his back was turned towards me, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

"Sam," he finally spoke.

"Yes?"

"Can spiders see underwater…?"

"No, some can but-"

"Okay then here's what we're going to do," Danny cut me off, "If we can somehow swim or crawl underwater we might have a chance of getting past these things."

"So we can get into deeper water where they wouldn't be able to get us without drowning first." I realized what his plan was now and felt even more grateful that we had someone like Danny around. Even before the accident, he was always good at coming up with a plan during bad situations.

He turned and gave me a thin smile. Together we pretended to be retreating towards the others until we were close enough to talk to them. "Listen everyone," I whispered urgently, "Go underwater and start swimming forward."

"_**WHAT!!!**_" Paulina hissed, "You want us to get into this filthy water and swim _**towards **_those things? What is wrong with you Manson?!"

"These things probably can't see underwater, so if we swim we might be able to get past them and find someplace to hide until they're gone or we get far away from them." Danny hastily explained his, somewhat, suicidal idea. It sort of gave me a silent pleasure to hear Danny defend me that way from Paulina. She was about to say something else but Valerie cut her off.

"That's the best plan we have so far, so let's go now before these monsters figure out what we're planning," she hissed poisonously at her former best friend.

Ya gotta love irony.

"Okay, on the count of three we all dive under," Valerie instructed shooting daggers at Paulina as she was about to complain (_again_), "One. Two. _Three_!"

Right on cue, everyone ducked underwater. I could barely see anything; it was like trying to look through a dark blanket at night. As for the swimming, well, it was more like crawling if you ask me. I sort of felt sorry for Dash and Kwan for their size; they had to slide on their stomach so that the top of their packs wouldn't be seen. Danny, though I couldn't see him, was right beside him as I felt him brush my arm. Valerie, Star, and Paulina seemed to be doing all right but I felt worried for Tucker, because of the bleakness of this swamp water I didn't know how he was holding up so far.

This was also a lot harder than I thought it would be. It took all of my strength to keep my body moving forward so that I wouldn't end up sinking in the mud, and twice I ended up putting my hand on something painful. The whole thing was taking a lot more than I thought it would. I could feel my lungs beginning to burn from lack of oxygen, but I knew we could resurface, even for air; for fear that we may still be close enough to be spotted by our current predators.

There wasn't much time left. We needed to breath pretty soon and I knew Tucker was sure to be at his limit, given his bad physical condition from all that meat and junk he's always eating. It was only a matter of time. If we did go up then we'd have to instantly pull it into overdrive and run if we were still close to the spiders.

A few more seconds passed and that was it, I couldn't hang on any longer. If the spiders didn't eat us, then we were sure to drown at this rate. Kicking the ground as hard as I could I emerged gasping for breath and panting. Besides me was Paulina and Star in a similar state that I was: covered from head to toe in slime, with cuts and various scratches, panting heavily. Then came Tucker, nearly blue in the face as he took in long gulps of air, Valerie, Danny, and finally Dash and Kwan resurfaced just a bit behind everyone else.

I looked over my shoulder to see that we were a lot farther than I thought, but still not far enough to be perfectly comfortable and out of danger. Sure we had some meters and a tree between us and the creatures that wanted to eat us, but one loud noise or wrong move would instantly change that faster than it took Tucker to wolf down three cheese burgers. I tapped Danny's shoulder and gestured towards the bugs that were looking in confusion at where we had seemingly disappeared, still waiting for us to come up so they could attack, no doubt. He bowed his head in understandment and then addressed everyone.

"Is… everyone… alright?" gasped Danny, placing his hands on his knees. In response he got a couple of groans and hacking coughs.

"Define…alright?" Kwan said between shuddering breaths.

"I'm never…going outside…of my house…again…" stated Star with a disgusted look to emphasis her point.

"House? _I'm never leaving my bedroom again_!" added Paulina taking a leaf out of her hair. "Ugh, this is going to take weeks to get my hair even slightly flawless. It looks almost as bad as Manson's after gym class."

I scowled and shot daggers at her. If it weren't for the fact that Danny was holding on to my arms and that we were all in mortal danger, I'd so make that witch regret her words by shoving them down her throat with a flaming spiked club. "_Sam now is not a good time," _he whispered in my ear.

For what seemed like the hundredth time today, I took a deep breath, swallowed as much as my anger, and tried to stay focus on the current situation and not on the many possible ways there were to destroy that cheerleading snob.

"At least we're away from those things," Dash sighed with relief. _Boy was he in a fantasy…_

"I wouldn't place my money on that bet," muttered Valerie as she took a look around the side of the tree, there was the sounds of splashing water, and that most likely mean that our 'friends' figured out that we weren't coming up. "These things are persistent, and it doesn't look like their going to give up a meal that easily," she observed out loud.

"So what do we do?" asked Dash looking scared, "I mean we can't stay here…can we?"

"Of course not," Danny remarked, "If anything, that's probably a bad idea in its own right."

"Why's that?" Star squeaked, trying hard not to panic.

"Well think about it," I stated cutting into the conversation, "This is a swamp right? And most of the time the worst predators come out at night, so sticking around here would be just as bad as handing our selves over on a platter." The blonde girl turned extremely pale as all the blood seemed to leave her face and she looked close to either passing out or gagging at the mere thought of what I had just said. _Was that even healthy?_ Thankfully Tucker came in to her rescue…sort of anyways.

"Hey don't worry Star," Tucker chuckled nervously, "I mean, even if we _did_ end up stuck here for the night, we'd probably be safe and sound up in a tree or in one."

"But what if something lives in those trees Foley, then what?" she snapped. But it was clear that it was probably only to hide the mounting fear in her eyes.

"Then we'll just take them down with a good ole fashion beating," Dash punched the palm of his hand and grinned cockily like an idiot. I rolled my eye at him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Yeah, because that was going _so well_ five minutes ago," I replied sarcastically. He growled at me and opened him mouth to say something else, but Danny cut him off before he got the chance.

"_Guys this isn't the time to be arguing over stupid things, and stop making so much noise or they'll hear us and we'll be dead in seconds!" _Danny hissed venomously, getting a shivering silence in our little hiking party. We all looked at Danny sort of surprised.

This was one of those few times that Danny actually lost his temper and publicly displayed it. Even Dash didn't bother to make a single remark.

"Fenton's right," Valerie backed him up after a few moments passed. "If we're going to get out of this then we need to keep our cool and think straight, and I don't know about the rest of you but I sure as hell don't want to become some freak of nature's main course tonight."

Everyone stood there for a moment and just looked at her then we looked at each other and seemed to come at a momentarily truce.

"Okay, so how do we get out of this alive?" Kwan asked.

Valerie faltered, "I don't know," she replied quietly.

The thrashing seemed to be coming closer but I was too scared to look around the trunk of the tree we were all hiding behind. "Well we better think of something fast, because those spiders are getting closer,"

All of the sudden Danny's head shot up, "Sam, do you remember where you were when you were freeing Tucker?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything," I asked, completely confused.

"I noticed that when the spider that tried to attack you and Tucker floated and then it sunk into the water,"

"Dude, you're not making any sense," Tucker quirked, looking just as confused as I felt.

Danny was now grinning for some reason. "It sunk Tucker," he clarified, "And since the water here is only, at most, two feet and these things are as big as cars, that would have to mean that—"

"…That the water is deeper there and it could be a way out of here!" Valerie finished for him, having realized at what Danny was going at.

"Exactly."

"But wait," Paulina said, still looking lost, "Me, Star and Manson were all in that same place as that bug but none of us felt the water deeper."

Now that I thought about, she did have a point.

"My guess is that you three were _near_ it but missed it by just a bit," Danny explained, taking a more serious tone he said, "Now there's just the problem of getting there, which means having to cut across in plain view of our hunters. We're going to need some kind of distraction so that we can get across without them noticing or at least that we're too far away to catch us."

"But how do we do that?" Paulina asked.

Danny's brows furrowed as he looked deep in thought with a strange look on his face. I then realized what he was thinking. "Danny no," I said defiantly, giving him a cold look.

"No what?" he looked at me innocently, trying to hide his nervousness, but I saw right through his little facade.

I pointed at him accusingly and repeated, "_No_, as in I know what you're thinking of doing and you can't."

Valerie backed me up, catching on to what Danny was planning on doing. Even though I didn't like her all that much, I was grateful of her presence at the moment. "Sam's right Fenton, you can't go on and pull a crazy stunt like that, besides, you're injured." She pointed towards his injured arm, bringing everyone's attention to it.

I can't believe that I had forgotten about that!

It was still bleeding slightly, his blood tinged with the violet stuff, was starting to coagulate and coat the outer perimeter of the wound. This made me even angrier with Danny for being so thick-headed and reckless. Especially when he didn't have his powers to help him out here, I know he's gotten stronger ever since the accident but that didn't make him invincible or indestructible. He had limits, even if he is too stupid or proud to admit it and listen to them, now was not the time to ignore them either.

"Can tell me what you three geeks are talking about?" Paulina demanded looking ticked off to be left out of a conversation.

I might as well spell it out for her and everyone else since they hadn't caught on yet. "Genius here is going to use himself as bait so the rest of us can have a chance at escape," I sighed with frustration dripping in my tone, shooting Danny a scathing look for even _thinking_ about it.

They all looked shocked and then everyone started talking at once.

"You can't be serious!"

"Are you as crazy as your folks Fenton?!"

"Dude you can't do that!"

"What if you get killed?"

"Let someone else go Fenton," Star suggested.

"And what, Let them get eaten?" Danny shot back at her making her flinch. "Fine if you guys don't want me to go then what do you propose we do then?"

"I don't know," Valerie admitted. "But we are certainly are not going to be sacrificing anyone here," she finished firmly.

"It's not sacrificing if I actually make out it alive," Danny argued back and cut her off. "I'm small enough to hide in some place or swim under water without them ever finding me."

"Yeah, but you sure aren't fast enough Fenton," Dash shot off, "You can't even finish Tetslaff's weekly mile run without passing out." Danny glared at him but didn't say anything. "Face it, those freaky bugs would be picking your bones out of there teeth before you even got the chance to find someplace to hide."

"Spiders don't have teeth Dash," Tucker corrected absently, "They have fangs."

"What ever," Dash scoffed, "That's not the point anyway."

"Can't we just make a substitute or a dummy to trick the spiders?" Kwan questioned. That actually didn't sound like a bad idea, but there was just one _tiny_ flaw to it…

"But will it give us enough time Kwan?" I said.

He looked at me confounded, "Huh, what do you mean, if the bugs are after something else they wouldn't come after us… right?"

"That may be, but when they figure out that it's a dummy they'll probably come after us then,"

"How can they tell the difference, I mean their just a bunch of stupid bugs?"

I rolled my eyes and began to explain, "Spiders have senses that help them track down vibration and change in air pressure as well; if we send out a decoy it won't work for long because they'll be able to tell if it's alive or not, and I don't think that will be enough to help us that much Kwan."

"Oh,"

"What about liquids?"

"Huh?" I glanced over at Danny.

"What about liquids, can spiders sense liquids, like blood?" he asked again.

"Some can," I replied.

"Then I think I know a way to make Kwan's decoy idea work."

"Don't just keep it to yourself then, spit it out," Valerie said happily.

"Okay, Kwan hand me that rock right there and your canteen will you?" Kwan started to rummage through his pack and tossed the canteen to Danny when he had found it and the rock. Danny caught them with ease and took out his knife. Before I could say anything, he slashed at his damaged arm, making it bleed once again. Everyone looked at him like he was insane.

"What the hell Fenton!" Dash nearly cried out but managed to keep in a hushed tone.

Danny didn't pay any attention to the looks on our faces as her focused on his bleeding arm. I was tempted to punch him for that. He was injured enough, and adding another wound is not going to help him in the future. Then, he placed the canteen underneath the gash and collected blood inside and shook it so that it mixed with the water. Danny poured out some of it onto his hand with a grin on his face.

Kwan looked pretty grossed out, "I am not drinking that if that's what you're thinking Fenton."

"It's not for you." Danny took out his rope and cut off a piece with his knife, then tucked the rest away. "I figure if we can make a decoy that sort of realistic then we'd have a better chance to escape." He capped the canteen and started to tie it to the rock Kwan had handed over to him, "Dash is going to through this at the spiders, the rock will create vibrations big enough to make it seem like one of us and I'm not going to cap it all the way so that way it'll open when it starts to sink into the water…"

"Making it look like something actually living because of the blood," Tucker concluded. "That's genius dude…in a sick and twisted sort of way."

Danny finished with what was our only hope and gave it to Dash, who took it and took aim, holding it like he would be holding a football at games. He threw, and it hit right in the middle of the hoard. Not a moment too soon. Several of our insect friends had almost found us, but the bomb of vibrations in the water was attracting these things like the way that ghosts were attracted to Danny.

_Not in that way! _I meant how they always want to kill him not… You know what, just forget I ever said that!

"Where to Sam?" Valerie asked ready to sprint for her life. I pointed where I had rescued the two A-list girls.

'_I guess football players have their uses outside of school events after all,' _I thought ruefully as we all dashed to where Paulina and Star had been nearly taken away. With the amount of noise we were making it was a wonder that the spiders hadn't caught on; I guess the blood was confusing them pretty well. We were almost there; I could already feel the water beginning to rise slowly.

I gathered the nerve to look over my shoulder and a wave of fear gripped my stomach. It looked like our head start was just about over. They were coming after us and quickly gaining, some traveling through the tree with their webs, jumping through the water almost flying, and others some how skating on water.

"We have to faster!" I cried out towards the others. With a splash, we all went down no longer able to touch somewhat solid ground underneath the water. I looked down ad couldn't see or touch a bottom surface, but I did see everyone else swimming forward, I followed in suit kicking as hard as I could to propel my body forward.

The water was no longer so murky anymore and I could now tell who was who. Danny was up front with Dash and Kwan, a little bit behind him, Paulina and Star were swimming next to Tucker and Valerie, and I was in the middle of our little group. Once again, this was one of those times that I felt jealous of aquatic life for their ability to survive underwater for long periods of time compared to the average two minutes that humans were capable of.

Swimming towards the surface, I broke through and breathed. I took a quick survey and saw that we were no longer being pursued by giant eight-legged monsters and for the first time in a long time, I was able to breathe easily with relief. We were out of danger, for now…

"Did we lose them?" gasped Star anxiously.

"I think we did, spiders can't swim all that great and the ones that can don't go for big prey, so for now… we're safe." I told her with a reassuring smile. That seemed to calm her down as her face grew less tense.

"So… now what?" Dash asked.

"Swim for shore, what other choice do we have," Danny said, "But we might want to swim towards the left for now."

"Why?"

Danny motioned towards the right, "The current is a bit faster over there, so it could be nothing but it could also be something dangerous, so we might want to play it safe for a while. I don't know about you, but I've had enough excitement for one trip." He joked, grinning. I had to resist the urge to shake my head. Even in time like this, he still found time to joke around.

"Good idea," Dash said.

We all started swimming to the left quietly, preferring to save our breath until we reached land. The trees weren't so dense and at long last I could see the sky. It was a lot later than I had thought; the sun looked like it was fading meaning that night was soon upon and we needed shelter pretty soon or we'd get hypothermia. Also, there were some menacing looking clouds coming in fast. Probably one of those freak thunderstorms, but that only made our situation even worse. It was just one fun activity after another for us.

The wind was also starting to pick up and rustle the trees.

"Danny!" I cried out trying to get my voice of the wind. The water was beginning to churn making it hard to keep going in a straight line.

"Yeah Sam!" he called back, having yell. The wind was now howling loudly and the dark clouds I ha spotted before seemed to have grown and covered the sky. Thunder boomed with lighting, illuminating the sky above us.

"We need to find shelter!"

I saw his mouth move, but heard nothing but the wind and shrieking angrily all around me, whipping at my face. I closed my eyes to keep them from being nearly torn out of their sockets; I could feel debris starting to swirl at high speeds dangerously around me. Some of it hitting me painfully nearly knocking me bellow into the treacherous grotto. Something slammed into me, and hard. I opened my eyes to see it was Tucker.

"SAM!"

"TUCKER!"

"WHERE'S PAULINA AND STAR!" even though he was yelling at me I barely caught his words. Somehow this storm was louder than my best friend's usual big fat mouth.

"I DON'T KNOW! THEY WERE RIGHT BEHIND ME WHEN THE STORM HIT!" I yelled back trying to be heard over the roaring winds. "SWIM TOWARDS LAND, IT'S NO USE TRYING TO FIND THEM LIKE THIS!"

We grabbed on to each other and started swimming as hard as we could. Land seemed so far away, and it was completely black except for the occasional flash of lighting ripping above us like a jagged arrow through the air.

"SAM, ISN'T THAT STAR?!" Tucker pointed into the bleak darkness. I couldn't see anything until more lighting flew and I saw the outline of another human being and the matted wet mess of hair.

"I THINK IT IS! COME ON TUCK!" We swam towards her calling out her name as loud and as hard as we could. She seemed to have had heard us for she stated to yell at us as well with the wind carrying her voice towards us.

"SAM! TUCKER! OVER HERE!"

I could see her more clearly now and she could see us for Star stared to swim towards us. The girl looked scarred to death and close to tears right about now when we asked where the others were.

"I DON'T KNOW," she cried now tears flowing freely down her cheeks, "VALERIE AND PAULINA WERE WITH ME, BUT THEN WE GOT SEPARTATED WHEN A BRANCH FELL AND LANDED IN THE WATER. I WANT TO GO HOME!"

I couldn't help but feel pity for her but at the same time I knew this was no time for her to lose it. "SNAP OUT OF IT! WE'RE GOING TO FIND THEM BUT FIRST WE HAVE TO FIND SHELTER UNTIL THIS STORM CLEARS UP OKAY!" She sniffed and nodded, "OKAY, HOLD ON TO US AND START SWIMMING!"

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**This is a really long chapter sort of my way of saying sorry for the long months of not updating. I like to thank my new beta-reader Thunderstorm101 for doing a great job with this. I bet you can all guess whose point of view is going to be next. Well I'm off to get started on some homework I should have been doing two days ago. **

**Again a reminder that I have a poll up on my profile and my DA account at long last with some original if not crappy work by me if you guys want to check it out. I'll happily take any request for any illustrations anyone wants to see. **


	9. Star

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This one I had a lot of fun writing because we have some major emotional breakdown. So who wants to see people cry from emotional trauma!

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_**Chapter 9**_

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_(Star's POV)_

After swimming for what seemed like forever, we had finally reached ground after that storm had separated all of us up. My whole body was aching and I felt like I had just swam across the Atlantic ocean across and back six times while having fifty pounds strapped to my back. It was a huge relief to finally touched solid ground but the nightmare wasn't over yet. I don't remember much since at the time I was near hysteria by then and I wasn't thinking clearly because all I was doing was crying. Crying and thinking that I was going to die in this horrible place.

After that I vaguely remember someone lifting me to my feet and half dragging me onto higher ground and then someplace where the water wasn't pouring over us or flooding around us. As soon as I had finally managed to regain my senses and compose myself I saw that I was inside of a huge dead and hollow tree along with Sam Manson and Tucker Foley.

I shivered from being so cold and hugged my knees hoping that in some way I could stay even just the tiniest bit warm. No luck there… The plain (and totally tacky) white gi that those old guys gave us wasn't any help at all. They were completely soaked and all muddy, dirty and gross and stuck to my skin. On a regular basis I probably would have died if I had to go around dressed like this but I was too tired to care.

Right across from me was Goth and Tech Freak trying to light a fire, and hoped soon, my fingers were turning all blue and worse they were all wrinkly! "Are you d-d-d-done y-yet?" my teeth were chattering so much I was afraid that I might chip one of my teeth and have to end up wearing braces. And I am _sooo _not putting those hideous things on again.

"I'm trying," the techno geek grunted rubbing the sticks even harder but all he managed to do was make smoke.

"Well try _harder_," I snapped impatiently.

Goth girl gave me a really scary looking glare that made me shrink back a bit, "In case you haven't noticed, we are trying as hard as we can Star," she hissed viciously at me, "Why don't you try doing something useful as well like seeing what we can still salvage?"

I was about to protest about the way she spoke to me since I'm a high A-lister and she was pretty much a nobody but the way she looked at me and made the words pretty my dry up in my throat, plus I was just way too tired to argue back. Instead of chewing her out about the way that geek spoke to me I just 

pulled my backpack _(if you could even call it a backpack anymore)_ in front of me and started to look through to see what was not broken, or too water damaged to use.

The dried up food was now all but a large lump of brown stuff that felt really gross in my hand, the matches were all pretty much broken and wet so they were pretty useless. I laid them out to my right side where I had placed the lump of what _used _to be food. Then I pulled out the sleeping bag, it was wet and had a few small tears but it didn't look as bad as the matches did so I put it on my left side where anything that still was good would go. Soap was all but gone thanks to how much time we were in the water swimming away from gigantic man eating spiders, so I carelessly tossed it to the right pile with all the other useless stuff.

I really regretted not having soap anymore, I mean, it at least gave me some way of staying clean is this god forsaken place and now that it was gone I would probably have to bath icky swamp water. I couldn't help but nearly gag at the thought of using water that fish and who knows what else actually swam and lived in. Now what the hell was I suppose to do to clean all this crap off me?

Focusing away from my hygiene and back to sorting through my bag. I reached down and pulled out the canteen and examined it. Thankfully it was still in one piece without any cracks or leaks that I could see and placed it in the left pile, it was most likely the _only _thing in here that wasn't damaged. Placing it alongside the sleeping bag I then pulled out this weird piece of metal that I had no idea what it even was and shrugged and placed it to my left since it didn't look broken. The little white box with a red cross on it, that I suspected to be a first aid kit, was intact enough but when I shook it a bit I heard a few things rattle in there that sounded like there were more than just one piece to them now. Opening it I couldn't help but scrunch up my noise at the smell. God it smelled like something died in there.

I found that the roll of gauze in it was pretty much soaked through, a small brown bottle was completely shattered and I had to guess that whatever was inside it and had spilled all over everything else was what had caused the smell. Seriously, it like the schools Tuesday Surprise and Thursday meatloaf got together to form some sort of mutant baby that hasn't had its diaper changed in months. It made my eyes water and I instantly shut the lid, thankful to finally breeze in some fresh air. I didn't even want to look at the rest of the stuff in there because that would mean having to open that disgusting box again.

Putting into the reject pile, I dug deep down to the bottom of my bag and pulled out the tooth brush and tooth paste. I almost cried when I saw that they had survived after the whole getting chased around episode and set them down like they were my new Prada limited addition rhinestone studded hand bag. Even if my hair and clothes had to suffer at least I wouldn't have bad breathe to worry about.

Peering inside, instead of grabbing what was at the bottom I lifted the bag and shook out whatever was left. What fell out was those stupid bags, that weighed like a ton, that those old guys had given to be saying how they were my 'burdens' or something like that. I don't remember what they had said all that well, it seemed like so long ago even though it's only been a few days, all I know is that no matter what you just couldn't get rid of these things and for such small things they weighed like thirty pounds. Somehow I had been hoping that these things had sunk or gotten lost in the water.

_No luck there…_

Sighing in disappointment I turned my gaze to the other two who were with me. I just couldn't believe my situation right now, but I suppose it could be worse. I mean at least I wasn't eaten by those monsters and the way Manson had described on how those things possibly ate their food it would have totally ruined my chances of becoming co captain of the cheer squad next semester. How the heck would I be able to win if I was a disfigured and deformed freak!? If I wanted that spot I needed to look good, as if anyone would want an _ugly _cheerleader.

The Foley kid still couldn't make a fire and it was seriously starting to tick me off how I was freezing and he could light a stupid fire yet he was the only one who got a perfect score on that stupid state test last year. Manson was pretty much fed up with his failure and snatched the two sticks away from him. "Oh give me that!" she snapped ignoring Foley's protest. I didn't know how she would be able to light a fire but then again… all of the popular kids had always thought that Goth girl was into some sort of creepy voodoo or witchcraft…

She was pretty much doing the same thing as Foley by creating smoke but she would stop and pause and then get on her belly and blow at the leaves then start rubbing the sticks again and blow some more. I opened my mouth to say how stupid she looked but all of a sudden she had a small flame going. I couldn't believe that Manson actually made a fire with two ordinary sticks.

Just happy to finally have some heat I scooted closer to the fire and started to warm my hands relishing how great it felt to have feeling back in them and feeling my clothes beginning to a bit. Foley and Manson were both warming themselves too and now that we had some source of light, other than the occasional lighting every few minutes, I could really get a full view of them.

God they looked like something out of a horror film that was chewed up then thrown back out. Their clothes were even dirtier than I thought and so were mine, as I looked down at myself. If my clothes looked this bad I didn't even want to know how the hell I looked in the mirror—I probably even looked like a poor person—like _EW_! Manson's hair was really badly matted and looked like she hadn't washed it in years, there were a whole lot of sludge and bugs and twigs…and who knew what else! Either way… It. Was. GROSS. Her hair was seriously a lot worse than its usual spilt ends and lack of conditioning. She also had a bit of dirt on her face and a couple of small cuts on her right cheek. Clothes… well let's just say that a karate hobo would have nicer clothes than what she was wearing.

The tech geek had a bad looking bruise forming around his wrist and what was once his stupid red hat that he always wore on and off school looked dead and soggy sitting on his head. His back pack, along with Manson's, laid next to him side by side slumped on the ground like a pair of tired and beaten down shoppers after the _Le Elégant Branché Boutique's _annual Christmas special sale.He was currently rinsing the lower half of his shirt squeezing out disgusting swamp water onto the dirt floor of where, I was currently stuck with two of the lowest social outcast in the school.

"…So is there anything that still good?" I turned my head towards Foley when he had addressed me.

"Huh?" I said not really catching what he had said to me since I was too happy with finally having a fire to hear him.

"I said, is there anything that we can still use," he repeated taking or his hat and also squeezing the water out of it before putting it back on top of his head.

"Not much," I sighed rubbing my hands together then putting them back to face the fire, "The food is pretty much no use, and so is the soap and the matches." I scooped up one of the matches that were broken nearly in half and hanging by a thin slap and watched as the top half drooped pathetically to the side before dropping to the floor. Folding my legs under me I continued to list off the things that were now useless, "First aid kit; trashed, food; now a lumpy pile of crap, soap; nothing left." I finished listing everything on my hand, "The only things that still look good is the sleeping bag, canteen, the toothbrush and toothpaste, the back pack—sort of anyways, and those stupid weighted bags the old geezers gave us." I changed my sitting position to crisscross and leaned against my hand, "And some stupid metal thing—that I have no clue what it does," I finished rolling my eyes then turned my attention onto the two geeks. "So what do you guys have left?" I asked absently.

"Not much either," Manson admitted, "I still have a few pieces of rope and my canteen, but I lost my blade when we were fighting those spider things, the first aid managed to come out okay—we just got to let the gauze dry a bit—and so did my sleeping bag but the soap and food is pretty much gone." She ran her hand through her hair and looked over to the tech geek, "What about you Tuck? Got anything thing that still in one piece?" she asked dryly.

"Try _pieces. _My sleeping bag is now better off being used as a blanket," he held up a large piece of cloth that was badly torn up around the edges so we could see what he meant, "The only stuff I have left that are any good are the clothes on my back, my bag, tooth brush, pocket knife, and that's about it." He slumped his shoulders in defeat, "Man I could really go for a Nasty burger with onion rings right now."

I couldn't stop myself but the very mention of food, even something like a greasy Nasty burger, made my mouth start to water.

_GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR_

My eyes widened and I looked down at my stomach in embarrassment thinking that it was me. My cheeks were beginning to turn red and all panicked thoughts that my head goes through when faced with embarrassing situations went by as I tried to come up with an excuse to my stomach.

"Sorry guys,"

_Huh?_

I looked at Foley in confusion at the sheepish grin on his face, he rubbed his stomach and laughed lightly, "Guess I'm just hungry, we haven't eaten since morning and I have _no clue _when that was," he added trying to be cheerful then turned to the Goth girl next to him, "Sam are you sure there isn't _anything _we can eat?" he pleaded with hopeful eyes.

Personally I wouldn't mind some food right. Anything for that matter… as long as it wasn't anything disgusting and gross like fungus or bugs.

Manson let out a tired sigh and replied back, "No, sorry Tuck. All the stuff he was has dried and when the water touched it well… pretty much just got trashed." She held up a small sample fo it to emphasize her point before letting it drop to the ground.

"Aw man," he whined slumping his shoulders in disappointment. "So there's _nothing _to edible here?"

_Geeze what a big baby…_

"Sorry Tuck, unless you want to either eat the moss, fungus, or bark in here or venture out there into the storm," she pointed to the hole where we had came in where it showed a clear view of what seemed like a scene from that one movie The Perfect Storm. "You're just going have to wait a bit longer."

"Well I not eating any of that stuff," I spoke up suddenly wanting to get the obvious out of the way. "There is no way I'm eating moss or tree bark like some nature freak."

Manson gave me a really creepy glare, the type you see when someone is about to kill someone else type, that sent shivers down my spine. "_Gee, Star then what do you suggest we eat then huh?" _she asked rather sarcastically (and rude). "Do you really think that there's going to be some sort of restaurant or diner around here?"

I furrowed my eyebrows together, "Well yeah… I mean where else would those old guys go shopping for all that food they served us the first day. They must have gotten it from some place right?" Sam had a look of disbelief on her face, probably because she hadn't thought about that first I thought smugly.

_And she thinks she's so smart._

It looked like she was about to say something but Foley stopped her and whispered something in her ear that made her sit back down but still looking really ticked off. I don't know why she was mad all of a sudden but then again, this is Sam Manson we're talking about. She's always mad about something which is pretty much why I stay far away from her. Though I'd never say this out loud to anybody, deep down, she really scared me.

There was a silent pause where none of us were saying anything, just sort of sitting around and it was starting to really creep me out. Even Foley wasn't talking and it was usually impossible to shut that techno geek up on a regular basis. Unlike these losers, I'm actually used to having a lot of people around to talk to like Paulina, Dash, or Kwan. But unfortunately for me, I was stuck with the reject and bottom of the food chain.

'_Well this is just great,'_ I thought to myself stroking a lose ember from the fire with a stick looking up on occasion at the two dweebs, _'I'm stuck in a stupid tree with no one to talk to but two thirds of the loser trio.' _My life really sucked but if I didn't have some say something soon I think I was going to burst.

The only sounds were of the rain outside (that was in no way slowing down) and the fire's crackles. So I asked the first thing that popped into my head, "How'd you do that?"

"What?" Foley looked at me confused.

"Do what?" Manson repeated looking at me with eyebrow raised.

"That," I pointed at the fire that was now bigger than my backpack and was growing as Foley put in a few more broken pieces of wood that were all over the place and then began warming his hands contently.

"What light a fire? It's really not that hard," she shrugged absently throwing in another piece of wood before settling down herself and holding her hands out towards the amber flames. "I was in the Daisy girl scouts for a couple of years when I was a little kid, and they taught us this sort of stuff."

Okay now I was completely loss, since when was Manson ever Daisy girl scout? Those two things went worse together than snake skin green leather pants with a purple polyester belly shirt with yellow polka dots and pink zebra stripes.

Apparently I wasn't the one who was in disbelief since Foley nearly coughed up a lung but Manson managed to shut him up by shoving his stupid red hat that he always wore into his mouth to stifle his laughter.

I was a Daisy Scout when I was little and (though I was only there for two weeks) I've seen the outfits and believe me it was nearly an impossible for me to imagine Sam Manson aka Goth girl of Casper High wearing the uniform. She is all black and gloom but the uniforms were really cute and adorable and certainly not something that Manson would be caught dead wearing. The very thought of it was more insane than Ashley Beckon dating Zachery Goren after she found him totally making out with Stacey Dustin at Paulina's last party in his new car.

Again I just couldn't hold back my disbelief and my shocked expression emphasized on that, "You, Sam Manson, freaky Goth girl, _were a daisy __**girl scout**_?"

"Yes, I _was_ a Daisy Girl Scout okay," she confirmed crossing her arms and rolling her eyes clearly irritated with the subject.

At that point it was just too good to be true and I instantly burst out laughing when the picture of Manson dressed up in a hat that looked like a daisy while wearing a white skirt made to look like petals with a green belt and sunshine yellow blouse with a bright yellow slash, that was the Daisy Girl Scout uniform finally formed into my mind. "You! As a D-D-Daisy Scout! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" Tears were pouring down my face and my sides were starting to hurt but I needed the laugh after everything that I've had to suffer through these last few awful days. _'The others are going to love this,'_

She barred her teeth and growled in annoyance, "It's not funny!" she snapped.

"Oh come on Sam, it is too funny," Foley said cheerfully (now that he had finally unlogged his hat from his mouth) while Manson shot him a really scary glare, "You being dressed up as a daisy, that's like comic central, times ten."

"And you know what else would be funny, you being shoved head first through a sewer pipe in a New York subway," she shot back with an evil gleam in her eyes.

That got Foley suddenly very quiet and all the color pretty much leave his face. Wow, Manson was even scarier than I thought, which added another reason why I didn't want to be here. For some reason I felt myself going really pale, there was just something in the back of my mind that told me that Manson could actually pull what she had just said.

She leaned back a bit and relaxed her shoulders before letting out a frustrated breath, "My mom signed me up for alright," she told us not sounding happy at all, "She said I needed some normal girl activities so she made me a deal that if I earned at least twenty badges she'd let me drop out of it okay."

Okay that through for a loop.

"_You earned twenty badges?" _I voiced my disbelief.

"Well, yeah," she shrugged uncaringly, "How else was I going to get out of it?" she raised her eye brow at me, "My mom made sure that no matter what I wouldn't be able to get kicked out, and believe ,me I tried _everything _I could think of to get out. So… when that didn't work I figured I'd get those stupid badges and get the hell out of there."

Now that was pretty impressive. Earning twenty Daisy girls scout badges was one of the hardest things to achieve. I couldn't even earn a single one!

Okay so what if I was only there for two weeks and the badge I was trying to get was one of the easiest ones they had, but it was just so hard! They want me to touch rope (I could have gotten man hands which is totally gross) and learn how to tie it into a stupid knot. When is that ever going to come in to any use to me anyways? The only knot I know of is the one to tie your shoes. Other than that I really don't see the point in learning how to make a stupid butterfly knot.

But still, how the hell did Manson get twenty badges?! I didn't even know that was possible.

"Wow, Sam you're just full of surprises huh?" Foley chuckled.

_I'll say…_

"Whatever," she scoffed.

"No seriously Sam," he pressed on, "First the money and now this! Oh man Danny is going to—Ouch!"

"What do you mean? You freaks don't have any money," I stated.

"It's nothing alright," Manson said a little strained then glared at Foley, "Right Tucker?"

"Right, nothing," he grunted wincing as he rubbed his injured shoulder.

'_Yeah right,' _I rolled my eyes. Okay something was definitely up, I've managed to get to the top by telling when someone was trying to hide some juicy secrets and finding out just what it was, and these losers were hiding something big. I just knew it.

I may not pay attention all too well in school but I know I heard the word 'money' and I know I saw Manson freeze up and lose whatever color she had left on her pasty face when Foley had started taking about money. Why the heck would she hit him all of the sudden that hard anyways? And what would theses freaks know anything about money, it's not like they had any, and if they did then I would know about it and they'd be one of us, one of the popular kids.

In order to be in the in crowd you needed three things; money, good looks, and you needed to have a cool talent like dancing, singing, or a sport that you played like football (boys) or cheerleading (girls). Manson was athletic, everyone knew that, and she could be pretty if she ever decided to get a tan, do something with her hair, wear something other than black, get her nails done, and act more girly. But that right there is a big _**IF**__. _I seriously doubted if the gods of beauty could transform Manson from the creepy vampire that she was into one of us.

So why the heck would they be talking about it? I've seen them around and they don't hang out in any of the wealthy parts of town or even go to the exclusive rich parties. How could Sam Manson or Tucker Foley possibly have money if they didn't even show it around at school?

These freaks just get weirder and weirder by the second.

"It doesn't look like the rain is going to be letting up soon," Manson spoke changing the subject as she looked outside where it was raining cats and dogs with no light visible at all except for the fire. "We should probably get some rest so we can head off as soon as it stops," she declared spreading her sleeping bag on the ground and then laying on top of it closing her eyes as she did.

Sleep sounding pretty good right about now but it was just hard to believe I had to sleep on the ground, again, "Ugh, I can't believe I have to sleep inside a dead tree," I muttered.

"Well you could always sleep outside," Manson said with feigned cheerfulness.

I shot a glare at her catching the sarcasm in her tone and just sat down on my sleeping bag, the more cloth between me and whatever creepy bugs on the ground the better.

What surprised me was that Foley came to my defense, "Hey come one Sam, go easy on her, she's not used of this kind of stuff like Danny, me, and you are, so give her a break."

Wow, that was really nice of him, even after I had used him and dumped him when Paulina was going through that weird phase of hers here she was dating that Fenton loser.

"Fine," she grumbled dryly, "But if she wakes me up because of some stupid bug getting close to her…"

"So do you guys do this sort of stuff often?" I asked.

"No, of course not, what would make you think that?" Foley laughed nervously.

I rolled my eyes, I wasn't stupid you know, I had a 3.8 GPA, "Nothing it just that well, the first time we came here most of the A listers had been sure that you two and Fenton would be the first ones to quit. I mean you guys were the bottom of the food chain and not very athletic (well apart from Goth girl)…"

"For the record I can hear everything your saying," Manson spoke up not bothering to open her eyes.

_What was her point?_

I rolled my eyes uncaringly and continued choosing to ignore her, "And yet you guys just looked like you guys were on an average camping trip last night. So what gives?"

"We play…uh…a lot of survival video games…?"Foley answered lamely. I guess that sort of made sense, in a weird way but I'm just not in the mood to pry the matter any further. There was an awkward silence before Foley broke the silence, "So how do you think the others are doing?"

My posture stiffened and I lowered my gaze to the fire, lost deeply in my own thoughts about what he had just said. Even though I wasn't looking at them, I could tell by the sudden stillness in the air that they were thinking the exact same thing as me… if any of them had survived or not.

"I think Valerie is okay," I said suddenly hugging my knees, "She's taken karate since she was five, and Dash and Kwan should be alright since they're both football players."

"I hope so," Foley said quietly, "Just think how hard it would be to explain to everyone that any of them had died. Now _that _would make a pretty interesting law suit right there." He joked chuckling a bit at his own bad attempt to funny. I just rolled my eyes and Manson just groaned from where she was.

"Tucker right now is not the time for you to try to be funny," she said.

"Oh, come on Sam don't be such a kill joy,"

"Tucker this is serious, what if something happened to Danny?" even though Manson was acting tough, like she usually did, I could sense that small twinge of worry when she had mentioned Fenton. Seriously! When were those two geeks going to hook up already?

Foley seemed to had figured out that he had hit a soft spot and tried to make it up, "Oh come on, nothing is going to happen to Danny," he said reassuringly.

"How can you be sure?" I asked a little skeptical.

"Be sure about what?" he repeated.

"Be sure that Fenton is alright," I clarified faintly annoyed.

"I just know," he shrugged, "Danny is a really good fighter so I'm sure that—OW! _Sam would you cut that out!_" He cried out rubbing his head where the rock that Manson had thrown had hit him producing a really large red spot.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa—hold on a second, did you say 'fighter'," I swear I heard Foley call Fenton a fighter.

Foley tensed up and tore his attention away from the Goth who was busy shooting the techno-geek a scathing look for some reason. "No," he smiled nervously, "Did I say fighter? What I meant to so say was…um…uh…swimmer! Yeah, Danny is a really good _swimmer."_

_What a load of bull! _"No, you said fighter," I argued back giving him the best A-list glare I could come up with. I know what I heard and I had distinctly heard him say fighter. "What are you even talking about anyways? There is no way that Manson's little boyfriend is a fighter,"

"Danny is not my boyfriend!" she exclaimed now sitting up and glaring at me, "And what's that suppose to mean anyways that he isn't a fighter anyways? You don't even know him," she narrowed her eyes.

"Oh please, do you really expect me to believe that Fenton is a fighter?" I scoffed and it was true. At school he was constantly being bullied by Dash or some other member of the football team (mostly Dash though) and was one of the most athletically challenged kid in Casper High. He was pretty scrawny looking, especially in those baggy clothes of his, and not to mention he had pale skin and he always looked tired. So the whole outer image doesn't exactly scream fighter. "And he's not exactly the strongest person," I added.

"You'd be surprise just how strong Danny is," Manson replied with a secretive smile.

"Yeah," added Foley, "Especially after the way he took down all of those—OW! Would you stop that already!"

Hey that's right; it seemed really strange that Fenton had fought those things head on. Back then I was too scarred for my life to even notice but now that I thought about it, it did seem pretty weird that Fenton looked like he knew what he was doing and wasn't running away like he was known to do back home. Whenever there was a ghost attack, he would always be one of the first people to runaway, right before Phantom showed up to save the day.

Man just when I thought Fenton couldn't get any weirder he does.

The sound of my stomach grumbling loudly brought me out of my musing and into an embarrassing situation. I held my stomach hoping that its plea for food would die down. The situation was bad enough without this. I needed some food and I needed it _now! _"Are you sure there isn't **anything **to eat?" I asked trying to keep myself from sounding too pathetic but it was so hard! I'm hungry and tired and I wanted food, is that really so much to ask for?

Foley just shook his head, "Nope, there's nothing, the water just messed up everything," he said regrettably with his shoulders slumped.

"Man I'm starving," I cried out loud.

"Me too, I missed my after breakfast, noon, afternoon, before dinner, and during dinner feedings!" he complained loudly.

_What a baby._

"Oh would you two just shut-UP!"

Foley and I looked over at Manson who looked majorly ticked, with her left eye twitching and a vein throbbing and everything. "If you two are so hungry then try looking for something in your backpacks or in this tree to eat, otherwise just suck it up and try to get some sleep. We'll look for food tomorrow when this damn rain has stopped."

I didn't say a word as she roughly got under her sleeping back and yanked the covers over her head. Manson was pretty scary at times which is why I avoided her at school as much as possible, that's pretty much why _everyone _pretty much avoided her. I once even heard that she spent a whole summer living with wolves when she was little. That would explain why she disappeared a few years ago for the entire summer.

Foley and I stayed silent until Foley picked up his backpack and started to look through it, I wasn't in the mood for sleeping since I'm pretty sure that my stomach would have kept me up all night anyways, so I followed in suit and once more emptied out my bag. There wasn't much point as to doing it but I needed something to do. One thing that I absolutely couldn't stand was having nothing to do or having no one to talk too. Sure there was Foley and Manson, but they were complete nobody's and they weren't up to speed on what was going on underneath the surface of Casper High. Whatever conversation I had with them would be sure to be about geeky stuff (Foley) or creepy stuff (Manson).

Mindlessly emptying everything all out one by one. First the first box thing, then my canteen…

_Ugh!_ This is so boring!

Turning the stupid and unfashionable bag over and I just dumped whatever was left inside. The last thing that came out were those weird little bags that were really heavy. "I don't know why we have to lug around these stupid things anyway," I voiced holding one of them in my hand.

"We have to 'lug those stupid things' around because that's what the elders told us we needed to do in order to win."

I looked up surprised at Manson who was laying on her side with her head against her hand.

_Huh?_

"What?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes before sitting up sit, "Weren't you paying any attention when they called you in?" _Not really, _I guess my silence pretty much gave me away so Manson continued reaching over 

and taking the weight from my hand and began carelessly throwing it up and down in her hand. "These things represent our burdens, the things in life that we have to deal with, and in order to win we have to climb up that mountain with us carrying these all the way up to prove ourselves and to show we deserve to win that wish."

"But why? What's the point of making us climb a mountain?" I asked tiredly. The way she described it just made this whole thing seem pointless. Even if there was a wish that would give you whatever you wanted the way you wanted it, where the heck did the whole 'burdens' thing come in?

"The point Star," she sighed, "Is to see who is the most deserving of the wish."

"That's so unfair!" I cried.

"Why?" Manson asked confused.

"Because, some people may have more things to deal with than others so it's not fair that people who hardly have anything to deal with in their lives, like you or your two loser friends, have a lighter load compared to people who actually have problems that matter!" I clarified. And it was true, what could Manson or those other two dweebs possibly have to deal with anyways?

"And just makes you think that we don't have problems of our own?" Manson scowled glaring at me for some reason, but whatever she's always glaring at something or someone.

"Oh please," I scoffed, "What could you guys possibly have to worry about,"

It's true; they weren't popular so they clearly wouldn't understand.

"How about school huh? What about that to start," she replied angrily while Foley just shrunk into the background scooting as far as possible from the two of us.

"So what about it, you and your two freaky friends are nobody's, what could you possibly have to deal with at school?"

Manson tapped her chin thoughtfully for a second before responding in a cheerful tone, "Hmmm, I don't know… how about having to deal with Paulina clone snobs like you every day?" I gaped at her for a second before anger filled me but before I could say something Manson went on, "Also, having everyone treat us like dirt just because we're a little different than the same high school stereo types, or how about how Dash and his goons beat and pick on Danny constantly when he already has enough to deal with on his own!"

By this point Goth girl was standing up with her hands clenched to her sides and she was practically yelling, if I wasn't so mad and stunned right now I probably would have been terrified. "Or how about how the teachers all seem to pretty much dump on us more than they have to in order to make up for the fact that they let you and your so called friends do whatever the hell you want just because you're a freaking cheerleader! How 'bout that Star? Have you ever thought about that?! _**NO!**_ Because you are so full of yourself and stuck in your own world and thinking you own everything and have the right to treat 

other people like dirt and use them to your advantage in order to get what you want no matter what you have to do or the people you have to step on or hurt to get it!"

"Oh yeah!" I shouted back, "You think I don't have problems as well Manson? _Well_, let you tell you that it's hard to popular alright. Having to always look as perfect as possible just so that you can always come up as 'good' or 'pretty' but never 'gorgeous' or 'beautiful' and constantly being in the spotlight where everyone expects something from you every minute of every day and not once you're allowed to be different because it's just isn't how someone like me is supposed to act. Having to deal with knowing what to wear, how to wear, what to eat, who you have to know, and to make sure you're always on top so no one steals your place."

I was giving her a glare of my own that was considered the ultimate frost stare in Casper High history, but she deserved it for speaking to me like that and right now anger that was coming from I have no clue where was just pouring out of me with no stopping it. "You have no idea what it's like Sam Manson because you don't have to deal with cheerleading practice, homecoming committee, student council, dance team, or the swim team. You have no _idea _what it's like to not be able to do what you want because everyone expects you to be something else okay. Unlike you, I have to make sure I know everyone important because if I don't I'll be dropped out of the group faster than Valerie was. Money is just a small admission fee compared to some of the things I have to do to stay in the spot light. Do you think that I actually like it?" I choked out as pent up emotions came spilling out.

"Not ever having a chance to join the mathletes or the debate team because it's not 'cool enough', never getting to eat what I want when I want because I have to maintain the perfect figure so that my blockhead of a boyfriend doesn't dump me for someone hotter like Paulina, never being able to completely trust my own so called friends because I know that they're all back stabbers and just never ever being good enough to be more that just Paulina's satellite?" Tears were streaming down my face now and I quickly brushed them away.

"Well you _chose _to be like that Star." Manson said to me with no pity or remorse what so ever, this was a battle that neither one of us wanted to back away from. "You _chose _to make yourself nothing but some trophy, you made the choice to push away things that really matter in order to be popular. There's a difference between having to deal with things that you created for yourself and having to deal with problems that you have no control over. There's a huge difference between being constantly thrown things into your face and watching them blow up no matter how hard you try, and having to uphold a stupid image for the sake of being popular."

I was trembling in anger now, "_No control…_" I whispered then louder, "No control, **NO CONTROL!!"** I yelled, a flash or lighting thundered outside as the rain kept coming pelting harder than ever. "Let me tell you about 'no control' Goth freak. I didn't have any control when my dad suddenly decided to leave me and my family so he could be with some slut he met at a bar. I didn't have control when my mom started dating losers who don't even like me or my little sister. I didn't have any control when my older brother got into a car crash and almost died. _What could you possibly know about not having no control!?_" I screamed at the top of my lings with tear now openly spilling down my cheek.

My breathing was coming out in short ragged breaths but I didn't care, I didn't care if I was crying, I didn't care if I looked like hell, I didn't care that I was yelling. I just didn't care that all of my emotions were just coming out like a dam breaking lose, "What would you know what my life is like?" I whispered looking down at the ground before looking at Manson through tear filled eyes, I was trembling like crazy. "What would you know about what I have to go through? You have two friends that'll stick to your side and always have your back no matter. You actually have friends you can trust and talk to about everything and know that they won't turn on you. You don't have to be some perfect little cheerleader all the time; you can be what you want because you're not afraid of anything."

I swallowed a large lump in my throat and tried to stop crying, "So don't tell me about problems because believe me I have them."

Without another word I got my sleeping back and dragged it as far away from those two losers as possible. If I had been thinking straight I would have noticed that Manson's glare had changed to a look of sorrow and Foley was looking between her and me not being able to decide what to do.

Placing my sleeping bag down I dropped onto it and just laid there listening to the rain outside and my own heavy breathing. Where did that all come from anyways? I had been taught by my older brother Calvin to always keep everything inside and to never show it to anyone you know you can't trust and to never break down like that. So what happened? How did I suddenly lose control of myself and just spill out my deepest emotions to these two nobody's, things that I didn't even tell my doll Lucy Lu about?

I was too tired to think about anymore, I was emotionally, mentally, and physically spent and I just wished for darkness to come and take me away from all this. Soon my body began to shut down into sleep mode along with my brain and I welcomed it all. So at least for a few hours I wouldn't have to think about what I had just said a few minutes ago or what Manson had said.

_What does she know anyways…?_

* * *

**Decent length don't you think and also I need a new beta-reader, so anyone here interested at all? Thanks for everyone who was patient with me and thank you Avril Lavigne for writing songs such as Nobody's Home and Together because those two songs are what really inspired me with this chapter when I was temporarily brain dead. **

**Again I need a new beta-reader so if anyone wants the job please contact me.**


	10. Lancer

**For a change of pace, someone mentioned having Lancer's POV and thought that it was a really good idea to mix things up a bit. No one needs to remind me on the lack of update for any of my stories. I am completely aware of that and annoyed with myself on my inability to produce any piece of material I'm happy with, but on the bright side, at least my wording, phrasing, and grammar has improved thanks to my beta-reader. **

**Please enjoy now.**

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_**Chapter 10**_

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(Lancer's POV)

How in the name of William Shakespeare could _this _have possibly happened, of all things? To have my entire class taken to some strange world and have them taken out into these wild lands on their own for some prize like one of those reality shows on television these kids nowadays are so wrapped up around. These were **children**_ for the love of Ernest Hemingway! _Naïve, undisciplined, unruly children, most who've probably never had to face anything like this at all, and to have them out there on their own against who knows what!?

My mind was just completely at a lost at what to do. Yet a nagging feeling inside me couldn't help but make me feel like this was partly my fault as well.

I was the adult, their teacher, and their current guardian. It had been my job to ensure their safety, and I had failed. As a teacher I had failed; twenty years of experience and I have nothing to be proud of if I'm so incompetent to let those kids go off all alone like, like on… _some playground treasure hunt_!

Sighing, I held my head between my hands, as if to keep it from breaking apart. If I had hair I'm pretty sure I would have yanked all of it out by now. This whole situation was so frustrating and in all my years as an educator it made absolutely no sense. There were just too many gaps, gaps that seemed to be getting bigger and bigger with no answers to fill them. Though I prided myself as being a well-educated man I couldn't come up with anything logical to explain several dilemmas and questions I have had since arriving here.

What in the right mind had me actually letting those children go off like that? What was it that was holding me back from clearly stating my disagreement in this whole charade? Ghosts I can handle, as strange as that may be. After all, Casper High is one of the hot spots for ghost attacks to occur. The paranormal beings of what used to be just myths attacking Amity Park is also easy to digest, but **this! **

It was just too much. I'm more than certain that as soon as I get back home I'll break my diet that I had been working on for the last two years.

There was no one else around, I couldn't stand stay close to the camp where I had last seen my students, and had walked off a bit to try and clear my head of all these pieces that just weren't connecting. I was so absorbed in my own panicked state of mind that I didn't notice that I now had some company.

"Lovely night isn't it?"

"_**GAH!!!!!**_"

I nearly leapt out of my skin by the sudden appearance of the same strange little man we had encountered when we had first arrived in this peculiar place. Clutching at my pounding heart I couldn't help but gape at him as he softly chuckled.

"I'm sorry," he said, leaning over on his staff. "I didn't mean to frighten you like that."

"N-N-Not at all," I replied, trying to get my breathing back to normal.

The man walked over to my side and gazed up at the sky that could be seen through the trees with his hands behind his back. "Lovely night, eh?" he repeated.

"I suppose."

"Did you know that the night sky from your world and the night sky from this one are exactly the same?"

"No, I didn't," I admitted, now looking up at the sky as well. _Now that he mentioned it…_ There were some similarities, a lot actually. The same constellations that could be seen this time of year could be seen here and I'm pretty sure that if I didn't know better I'd say I was looking up at the stars from my apartment.

He smiled gently and turned to me and said, "Yes, people can learn the most surprising things if they'd only stop to pay attention and try to care."

_Déjà vu! _

"That's what I usually tell my students…" I muttered. It came out louder and much bitter than I had intended. I hoped I hadn't offended…um…

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "But I didn't catch your name."

"Oh don't worry; my name isn't important right now. After all, isn't it the names of your students that are currently occupying your mind?"

I opened my mouth to say something but I couldn't because it was the truth…Wait a minute! I glance over at the man humming softly to himself. _'How did he know that though?'_ I wondered.

Once again, it seemed like this strange person was reading my thoughts.

"Oh I don't have to be able to read thoughts to know that you're worried about your charges," he answered knowingly. "You _are _their teacher and you do have a responsibility to watch over them, so it's only natural that you feel concerned about their well being." His shoulders shook with silent laughter. "And not mention that you have been talking to yourself over here for the past half hour." A blush rose to my cheeks. "And, forgive if I had been rude, but I couldn't help over hearing some of your descriptions that you gave some of your students." He closed his eyes and sighed contently before opening his eyes again and once more returning to observe the sky.

"Yes, well I um…" I cleared my throat and followed his gaze upward.

"You seem to know a bit about them." He stated casually, still looking up.

"Well, yes, as their teacher for nearly two years now I would like to think so," I replied.

"And yet with the young there is only one thing that is for certain."

"And what is that?" I inquired curiously.

He turned to face me with another knowing smile, looking up (since he was a very small man). He waited a bit before giving his answer.

"They always find a way to surprise all those whom come before them." There was an undisputable truth in that statement; after all, kids these days tend to keep a lot to themselves.

"Now then, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you bit about some of your students." I stared at him a bit surprised. This certainly came out of the blue, and I wasn't used to being asked that question by a stranger.

He must have mistaken my expression and quickly apologized, "Oh! I didn't mean to be rude, but I was a tad curious."

"Oh, no, you weren't being rude," I assured him with what I hoped was a convincing smile. "I was just surprised by the question that's all." I quickly explained, "It's just unusual for me to talk about my students outside of school or work hours."

"And why is that?" He raised an eyebrow at me. "I was given the impression that you care deeply for you pupils."

"I do." I immediately replied, a little angry that this man was implying that I didn't care. Any good teacher would care.

He wasn't in the slightest offended by my tone and just ignored it, chuckling silently to himself. "Well of course you do that much is obvious!" He declared, taking his staff and pointing it (quite rudely I may add) at my face. "It's written all over your face." He laughed. "I'm just surprised that you're not someone who likes to brag about the accomplishments that your charges have achieved."

"Well that depends on what you mean by accomplishments…" I muttered under my breath.

He cocked his head, staring at me with a strange look. "And what is it that you are hoping for your students then?"

I sighed as memories after memories of students whom I knew had the potential to do well but for some reason chose not to, rushed through my mind. "I'm hoping for them to apply themselves a bit more towards something that will actually benefit them in the future instead of wasting their precious youth on frivolous teenage things."

"Hmm… I suppose you are referring to academics then?" My new companion pressed on, absently observing the ground.

"Not just that. Their school work would be a nice start, but to also get involved in constructive activities instead of '_chilling_' and _'hanging with their dogs'_." I used air quotations to emphasize my point, I honestly don't understand much of the way kids talk these days. For the love of _Oliver Twist_ there were times where it was like hearing a completely different language being spoken right outside my classroom, and it makes me wonder if these kids will ever speak in proper English. I couldn't help but sigh in frustration once more. "Many of them are bright, but that brightness just goes in the wrong direction."

"Is that so…?" The smaller gentleman next to be stroked his chin before asking curiously. "And which one of your students would you be referring to?"

I bit my lip, unsure if it was ethical to talk about my students in this way with someone whom I've met just a little over forty-eight hours ago, but something inside of me was in deep need of someone listening to me for once. A teacher I may be in a school where I teach over one-hundred and eighty students a day it was rare to find even two who actually_ listened_ to me when I'm talking.

Then again, I didn't have to actually _name_ my students.

After a moment I answered. "There are several students whom I know have potential but just don't use it. One of my students particularly…" Yes, when it came to unused potential this one name always jumped into my mind. "He's very bright and clever," which was true. There were instances of pure genius in some cases such as last week when he had somehow managed to come up with a perfect solution that instantly froze an accidental fire in the Chemistry lab before it burned down half the room. "And has shown some signs of leadership," I still have a hard time believing that the same boy who was constantly used as a scrape goat by the football team led a group of teenagers in a battle against ghosts and then did the same thing except this time to fight Mayor Master's new policies. "All in all, this young adult has all the qualities of a good student and someday being great but…" I trailed off unsure how to phrase my thoughts.

"But…?" the smaller man beside me started to drag the staff in his hands in the ground, drawing strange shapes.

I let out what felt like my millionth sigh within this hour. "But he chooses not to and even sometimes hides those qualities." I might not be the most observant of teachers but I do try to keep tabs on most of my students, especially the more extreme cases. The one thing about this student (whom I refuse to name in order to give the young man a sense of privacy) is that right from the start he had been the shy type and not really wanting to draw much attention to himself, and yet somehow managed to, and in completely creative and rather unusual ways.

Though I can pretty much guess where the unusual part comes from…

As for the creative part…well, in all my years of teaching I've never met a student who could come up with even a quarter of the things he and his companions have pulled in the last year and a half they've been at the school. It's still a mystery to the entire school board and fire marshal how a fifteen year old managed to sneak into the school's power box and completely rewire the entire system without being caught and without setting anything on fire.

"It's just so frustrating sometimes to see a student like that not reaching their full potential and on purpose at that!" I threw up my arms out of at least a year's worth of exasperation related to this student.

The yet to be named gentleman next to me didn't say a thing and merely started humming again. After a minute he spoke, "Maybe this student is just channeling it towards something else…?"

I shook my head at that. "No, this student doesn't participate any of the school's extracurricular activities and as far as I know he doesn't seem to have any other activities that aren't school related."

"Are you certain of this?" He raised an eyebrow in mirth. What was so funny about this I have absolutely no idea. "Those of the younger generation do tend to keep a lot of secrets from the older one."

He had a point there. Teenagers these days just never found it in them to go to an adult for help, no matter how badly they need it. They either choose to deal with the problem themselves, turn to their friends for help, or not do anything about it and just ignore it hoping it would go away. I can understand why adolescents wouldn't want to get help by someone much older than them, I was young too. No matter what the bathroom wall in the teachers lounge says I am not _that _old. But what I don't understand is the extremes that some of these children will go to and actually try to hide them.

I've noticed a lot about this school, such as how Polly Henderson from my third period class has been suffering from depression since her parents got a divorce or how Jason Luker has some sort of reading difficulty but has too much pride to get the help he needs, no matter how many times I recommend it. Or about how Paulina Sanchez had to attend a special camp last summer because of an eating disorder.

I am not blind to what happens to my students.

It seemed to me that today's kids saw it as _'cool' _to be able to prove themselves as strong by dealing with these burdens themselves. If they survived it made them stronger but if they didn't… it would make them seem as weak or even strange by the other children, who are sure to torment for them and to top it all off they;d have to deal with the consequences that follow.

Over all, this world has seemed to have turned into some survival game itself and innocent kids are the players. There's only so much that a teacher can do to help and sometimes it just isn't enough.

"I just wish that… (_sigh_) I don't know… that… these kids could at least turn to each other for support and know that they don't always have to deal with everything themselves."

The night seemed to have gotten a bit calmer since the time that I came out here. For once, I allowed myself a moment of peace from the chaotic processes of my mind and just enjoyed the evening sounds. I didn't even notice that my companion for this evening had left and was now walking away from me until he spoke up.

"Your feeling towards these children is admirable you know." He looked back and smiled gently at me. Somehow that smile seemed as though it was looking straight through me. "But sometimes certain lessons have to be learned through hardships, even if that means not having someone around to share the pain." Bending down he picked up a simple stone from the ground and held it up in his hand. "Even the roughest edges can be smoothed out with the right amount of patience and conditions, and in the end something precious can be found underneath the harshness that was once there. It's merely a matter of paying attention long enough to notice the changes." He placed the stone back on the ground and continued on his way, leaving me behind to ponder over his words.

"OH! I almost forgot!" He called out. "There something that you need to see back at the camp, just come back when you're ready."

I blinked at him and just stood there watching him retreat back the way he came. Why did it seem that the longer I stayed here the more and more I realized that nothing of so many years of college or any number of educational degrees or PhD's could possibly come close to explaining what I have seen and been through over the past two days. Suddenly memories of those three years of therapy started to resurface and a feeling of dread that I'd be signing up for another three years once I got myself and my students back to Amity Park.

Amity Park…

I didn't even want to think about the angry parents and press coverage I'd have to deal with when we all got back. True, ghost related activities was a normal topic on the news these days but having a massive kidnapping that involved an entire classroom of Casper High students would be sure to be all over the front page of the paper.

Or at least page three.

Ghosts had always been an extremely large headache to deal with, ever since that one ghost with an obsession with meat showed up and completely desecrated the exterior west field of the school. And with an increase in the number of ghosts since that time there have been multiple law suits and the school budget had been stretched as far as it could possibly go with all the ghost related damages the school has had to pay for.

Heaven knows the number of times that the Feds had come over to the school to question the kids there about the ghost boy. Honestly, if those men haven't been able to catch the ghost boy that had almost all the female students falling head over heels for him I doubt they'd be able to catch him any time soon. Everyone in the country was becoming familiar with the signature sight of snow white hair and glowing emerald eyes.

The ghost boy of Amity Park was fast, strong, and smart. A powerful and deadly combination, in a way it made sense for so many ghost hunters to try and take him down. There was just no telling what a ghost like that would do if he one day decided to turn evil. He may cause thousands of dollars of damage around the city but there was one thing for certain that most of the residents in Amity Park understood; the ghost boy kept other ghosts out. Maybe it was because the ghost entity was territorial or Amity Park was his final resting place or some other theory that ghost experts have come up with but there was no denying that Phantom mostly fought ghosts and never any human who wasn't a ghost hunter.

At least ninety-nine percent of the population at Casper High has seen the ghost boy fight off another ghost at least on five different occasions. I've seen the ghost boy myself plenty of times and many of those times it was for a brief moment before I was running away the other way. The few times that I have, unfortunately, remained long enough to actually witness the ghost boy fight I've managed to realize that the ghost boy was _very _**very **good at what he did.

His fighting style was calculated and unpredictable and just by the look in the ghost boy's eyes it could be easily seen that Phantom doesn't stop planning his next move and using the recourses he has around him to his advantage with some of the most ingenious strategies I've ever seen. I never even heard of the CIA acting with as much precision and accuracy as the ghost boy integrated in his battles.

I had a feeling that if the ghost boy was actually alive and went to Casper High then he would most likely have been one of the most brilliant of students that the state had ever seen, and would have, without a doubt, gone off to do great things. It was such a rare thing to find a student, let alone a teenager, with that much focus and concentration and actually used those qualities to their best advantage.

I a sense of longing washed through me when I thought of my own students, wishing that at least a few of them had some the same characteristics as the ghost boy. Not the destructive and dangerous ones, mind you, but the ones that made it possible for the ghostly teen to defeat much larger opponents despite the odds. A public menace or not one couldn't help but admire that sort of fighting spirit.

As I made my way back I pushed away the puzzles that clouded my mind but that was a mistake on my part, as soon as those thoughts were gone images about the gruesome fate of my students came with celerity sending me back into a maelstrom of a migraine. Sometimes I wondered why I even got into the profession of teaching; it certainly didn't pay much **that **was for sure. A truck driver probably makes more money than I do, and they don't have to go through ten years of higher education to do it.

_Maybe my mother was right… I should have become a dentist instead._

"_!!!!!!!!!!!! I WAN'T TO GO HHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMME!!!!!!"_

"_I WANT MY MOMMY!"_

"_I WANT REAL FOOD!!!!"_

"_I MISS MY BLANKEY!"_

_Sense and Sensibility! _With all that my mental health has had to go through the past two days all this noise was not helping, I thought with irritation. Wait a minute? Noise?

Why would there be noise, it's been quiet ever since the kids were all sent on their way to fend for their lives so why would there be—unless… I came to a complete halt as the realization slammed into me like a bullet train. Was I imagining it?

"_This place SUCKS! Yo, when I get home I'm gonna slam the school with a whole much of litigators and stuff."_

"_**Ugh! **__My hair is like so ruined, I'm NEVER going outside again, there were all these huge bugs!"_

"_I'm missing the new episode of __**How to be a Super Hot Cheerleader! **__Hailey had just got back together with Chris after he cheated on her with her friend's cousin's sister's aunt's brother's girlfriend!"_

The mispronunciation of words, the mindless gossip about the latest television sensation about spoiled teenagers, the constant complaints about clothes and hair! I'd recognize this sort of meaningless whining anywhere! But could it truly be…? I ran as fast as I could, the voices of my students getting louder as I approached. When the camp got into view I saw not one but several, at least twelve students, all there and all in one piece. A wave of relief undulated through me. True, it wasn't _all_ of my class but I has at least a third of the way there.

"_Children!"_ I cried out joyfully. Seeing them completely unharmed brought me nearly to tears. There might just be hope that there wouldn't be as many lawsuits as I initially feared.

They all turned in my direction before rushing over to meet me halfway. By the look of their faces they probably missed having a wise and strong and educational role model around to guide them. Like a dam breaking loose they all started an outcry that most likely broke my eardrums.

"…_I want to go home!"_

"…_Where's Star and Paulina?!"_

"…_How could you let this happen?!"_

"…_Where's the bathroom!?!" _

They were all talking at once, trying to get my attention. How ironic is it that the one time I get students wanting to pay attention to what I have to say for once it is absolute chaos? _White Fang_! This was even worse than the end of the year concert last year when that band… what were they're names again…? Dumpy Monkey… Eggy Weggy, Hickery Doo…? Oh, never mind! I have no time to dabble on the ridiculous names of the bands that these kids were in to today. The point is that this was worse than that.

"_**Huckleberry Finn!!!! Everybody calm down!!!" **_I bellowed. Instantly my students hushed down and I could finally speak clearly to them. This is where years of handling teenage mobs can come in handy. "First things first, I will call out roll and if you're here please call out here or raise your hand." I knew that order had to be established first and these kids need order, whether they like it or not. It helped to keep them calm and more importantly it gave me some reign of control over the situation, no matter how trivial it may be. "Alright then… _Nathan!"_

"_Here." _Good, one less student I don't have to worry about.

"Kevin."

"Here."

"Dash."

Silence… there was no response. I called out again and still no response. Some of the students began to look on the verge of panicking so I continued calling out names, making sure to keep a mental tab on who was here and who wasn't.

"Ashley."

"Here."

"Mikey."

"H-Here."

"Joshua."

"Here."

And so it went on until at the end of the role call I had counted all but eight students here. Besides Dash Baxter the other missing students included Paulina Sanchez, Tucker Foley, Star Conners, Danny Fenton, Valerie Grey, Kwan Su and Sam Manson. Even though I only had eight students left there were multiple possibilities as to why they have yet to return like their fellow classmates, none of the scenarios playing in my mind right now were exactly pleasant reasons either.

'_Calm down.' _I told myself, _'Focus on the students you have right now and try to find out what happened.' _

The students were now starting to talk amongst themselves in scared tones when it was clear to everyone as to just whom was still missing. Various theories were already floating around about them being dead, actually winning this ludicrous game, or even one about being made Spider Queen or some nonsense. _(Though most likely that last one was about Samantha Manson…) _I let out a mental sigh. What was I to expect from teenagers after all, gossiping seemed to be a natural instinct to them. Although it wasn't their sudden creation to rumors as it was that I found more than half of those likely, considering our situation and all that has occurred in the last few days.

"Children!" All talking stopped and for once I had their undivided attention. Maybe there was something good out of this forsaken place after all… "I'd like for each of you to tell me, one at a time what happened."

I should have known that it wouldn't last. The words 'one at a time' obviously translated to 'Shout as Loud as You Can at the Man Who Might Just Need Hearing Aids Next Year' in teen slang. A rush of words poured out of over twenty students' mouths and all that I could gather were a few bits and pieces that made sense.

"—_there were these huge bugs that tried to kill us!—"_

"—_so __**gross **__and slime everywhere—" _

"—_nothing to eat but mush—"_

"—_dead bug and we thought it'd be cool to write with it on the ground—"_

"—_some creepy message that looked just like the one on episode two sixty-eight of Galatic Battle—"_

"—_my hair got ruined!—"_

"—_wish we could've taken a picture of it though—"_

"—_I hate camping!—"_

I really hate my job sometimes…

* * *

_(Several Hours Later…)_

I leaned heavily against a tree trying to get something solid to anchor me to what little sanity I had left.

After countless tales about the misadventures of my currently present students, I had just about aged another ten years from having to deal with their ramblings. There were a few pieces of information that I managed to make even the slightest of coherent sense that actually helped my mind process everything at once.

Apparently, the students had either woken up alone or near some other student, each of them with the supplies they had been given prior to the start of this absurd contest. I've also managed to gather that all of the students were involved in some sort of danger involving large and grotesque creatures or unique plant life. Some of the females in the group had broken nails, and apparently Mickey and Lester had found the corpse of a dead creature and wrote with its bodily fluid on the ground before they had realized that they didn't have a camera…

Stranded out in the middle of a forsaken jungle and these kids_ still_ managed to only think about imitating television? And yet they can't even do the reading assignments I give weeks in advance.

Another peculiar thing that has come to my attention was that as soon as the students were in any sort of mortal peril, and in some cases, reduced to a sobbing train wreck the necklace that was also given to each of them started to glow and the next thing they knew they were only a few miles away from where we had all started. Also, it had been that strange man I had been conversing with earlier that had led them back here as well.

All in all, after two days of mental apprehension on my part, I was no closer to knowing what was going on here as Edgar Allen Poe was at not being considered partially insane.

'…'

I _**REALLY **_should have been a dentist.

* * *

**Well that's enough since this was about over 4,000 words long and that's all I could write about Lancer without having to drone on and on like he is known to do. I'm sorry that this took so damn long to actually get out. I know that I really haven't been updating at all (see nonexistent). I've been trying to get my mind back on track with my stories since my goal is to have at least ONE finished before I graduate high school next year. **

**Thank-you so much to everyone who has been waiting for this, you've all been extremely patient with me. And thanks to the person who actually gave me the idea to have Lancer in this one **_**Luiz4200**_**.**

**Thank-you to my amazing beta-reader **_**inukagome15**_** who never ceases to make me grateful for her great editing with this story, I suck at grammar and punctuation. Just take one look at any of my rough drafts and you'll find ten errors in one sentence. **

**I'm still not sure as to whom I will be depicting in the next chapter but I'm guessing that I ought to show what's been going on with the others huh? Let's see… I've done Dash, Paulina, Sam, Kwan, Star, and now Lancer. That leaves only Valerie, Tucker and Danny… Damn it! There might not me enough characters to finish unless the chapters are really long or I make it into part 1 and 2 or repeat some of the characters.**


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